Dufourea monardae, F, Face, WI, Eau Claire County

A headshot of the uncommon specialist bee, Dufourea monardae. As one might suppose, based on the species part of its name this is a monarda specialist. Uncommonly collected, perhaps only because people do not spend enough time collecting bees on monarda, but a handsome one, with the long head and characteristically, the antennae placed very low on the face compared to other bees. Check out the long tongue with delicate brush like hairs. Photographed by Amber Reese, specimen from Wisconsin, likely collected by Denny Johnson. 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.