Agapostemon texanus.angelicus, gynandromorph, NM, Hidalgo co, back

Hermaphrodite! (aka a gynandromorph) This Agapostemon texanus or angelicus (species can't be determined here) is part male and part female. This happens in I think all animals and I have seen about 5 of these after looking at about 400,000 bee specimens. This one was brought in by Tim McMahon after he collected it in Arizona. Mostly this specimen is female in aspect except for the following: Half of the clypeus (the front plate of the head) is male, half female (bilaterally) similarly one mandible is male and one female. The male has 6 tergites like the female, but the coloration is mostly male, which is brownish, but, interestingly there are some spots on the abdomen that are metallic green which is female. Photographs by Elizabeth Garcia. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200. USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.