Epeolus autumnalis, m, left side, Suffolk Co., MA

While the host is away the Epeolus will play. This is E. autumnalis, collected by Jessica Rykken in Massachusetts. It does not gather pollen. Rather, the female sneaketh into the nest of a Colletes while it is out gathering more food and inserts its egg into the wall of the nest. Later the egg hatches and the larva slaughters the host egg or larvae and if more than one little parasite is in the nest, well the last to survive the fight wins. It would make an excellent soap opera. Kelly Graninger took the picture. 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.