Bombus fraternus, f, face, Charleston Co., SC

Bombus fraternus. The Southern Plains Bumble Bee. This crisp, handsome and short-faced bee suffers from lack of an adequate publicist. Thought, several other Bumble Bees in its clan, to be in decline from introduced pathogens. It gets little mention in the bee press. Perhaps because it inhabits the flatwoods and flatlands, where heat, ticks, poisonous snakes, and topographic monotony keeps the well-healed naturalists thin on the ground. Indeed it appears to be suffering and perhaps more so than some other groups, but we know little. So, how nice to have Mimi Jenkins show up with a nice string of them from the land of watermelons outside of Charleston. Perhaps they are not so rare after all, though they once occurred in the very neighborhood of my lab and have not been seen there in over 100 years....and believe you me we have looked. Kelly Graninger, star intern, took these pictures. 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.