Andrena caerulea, f, side, Santa Barbara, CA

As its name implies, Andrena caerulae, is a bee with a deep blue shimmer to its skin. Unlike the plain black models of most of the other 500+ species of Andrena this species stands out, making identification a bit easier. In the face you can see the darkened patches of short hairs that line the depressions between eye, ocelli, and antennae (fovea) that characterize the genus Andrena. This one was caught on the Channel Islands as part of a National Park Service study of bees along the coasts. A little bedraggled, but the only one we caught, so its picture is taken. 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.