Calliopsis sp., m, right side, Cochise Co., AZ

Calliopsis. Another of the many kinds of small bees that run the world. This is one was collected in Arizona by Tim McMahon or Don Harvey in fabulous Cochise County. There are a butt load of Calliopsis species in the SW so am not sure which one they caught but they have very narrow plant predilections...each species often specializing only one small group of plants. So as we dumb down the world exchanging regional plant complexity for weedy uniformity things like Calliopsis and other bees and other insects and other bacteria and other fungi and other life forms .....disappear. If you own land, then it is, of course your choice what happens. No pressure. Picture by Sydney Price. 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.