Coelioxys sayi, F, face, Tennessee, Haywood County

The most common Coelioxys in the East. C. sayi is a nest parasite, slipping into the nests of leaf cutters like Megachile mendica and kin and dropping an egg into the wall of their nests. In the female, like this one, the edge of the clypeus is slightly indented (hard to see). Now you know. 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.