Andrena wheeleri, F, face, North Carolina, Buncombe County

This is a bee I don't see that often. It is both northern and Appalachian, but even in those areas it seems to be not terribly common. It looks fairly similar to its cousin Andrena nasonii, but Andrena wheeleri. Is a bee that forages on low herbaceous vegetation mostly. Just another connector in the largely undocumented web of bees and plants. . Photographs by Kamren Jefferson. 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.