bee19992 anthid red, m, kenya, angle

Pachyanthidium species, Sawtooth Sputnik Bee, collected in KenyaAnother striking Sputnik Bee from Africa. This group of bees, and the Anthidiini tribe it nestles in taxonomically, are almost all characteristically striped and spotted with bright yellow, white, and red colors on a wide body, usually also with serious amounts of pitting cratering their exoskeleton. As usual, not much of the life history details are known for this group (including the identification of this species ) but the 18 described species occur broadly south of the Sahara in African and a few species sneak into Southeast Asia. This particular species falls within a subgroup of sputnik bees that have hairy eyes. Another unusual feature is the development of lateral spines on the abdominal segments. 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.