Cluster Bugs

Note: Bugguide is back, and I have added corrections to my (very bad) identification attempts.

Today I had to get my eyeballs of the screen for a bit so I took a walk around the block. I brought my camera and went looking for flowers and bugs. I found both, but today, the bugs were more interesting:

Unknown cluster-o-bugs

I’m not sure what these are. Maybe scarlet plant bugs (Lopidea spp.)Edit: These are Eastern Boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata). I’d post it on Bugguide.net, but the site appears to be down. 😦 According to my Audubon Field Guide, there are lots-n-lots of species of this bug, and they are host-specific. Luckily, I noticed what type of plant they were on – some dewberries. Unluckily, there are several species of dewberry, and it is difficult (for me) to tell them apart.

Here’s some kinda bee I saw on some cinquefoil:

Bee on a cinquefoil bloom

Cinquefoil is another genus (Potentilla spp.) that I have difficulty distinguishing down to the species level. This might be P. arguta, but it might also be P erecta. I guess I should educate myself better on these. The bee is even more difficult for me to distinguish. All the bees in Audubon look remarkably similar, and I just don’t have the patience tonight to plow through it.

When I got home I took a lap around my property and found this one:

Beetle

This is another I’d like to post to Bugguide, but since that’s not available right now, I have to make my own guesses. Maybe it’s a downy leather-wing (Podabrus tomentosus), but really – it could be about anything. Edit: Yup – it’s a soldier beetle (Boisea trivittata).