Bombus fernaldae, m, left side, Centre Co., PA

Parasite. Nest parasite to be exact. Formerly in the genus Psithyrus these bees are now in the genus Bombus, with the rest of the bumble bees. The idea is that they are just bumble bees that have decided that it is easier to invade other bumble bee nests and disable or kill the queen and have the old queen's daughters do their bidding....easier than doing all that pollen collecting themselves. This species appears to be associated with B. perplexus and B. rufocinctus, though there is certainly much more to learn and likely additional hosts. This male came from the State College area of Pennsylvania and collected by Laura Russo. Notably outside of the normal range of B. rufocinctus. 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.