Hoplitis pilosifrons, female, face

Hoplitis pilosifrons. Oft overlooked. This species is relatively common occurring in almost any substantive collection of bees from a region or location anywhere East of the Rockies. It has the bad habit of being bland in its characters and often leads to misidentifications. No one seems to spend much time studying this species role during the late spring and early summer when it is out and about on quite a range of plants. Perhaps it needs to create a Hoplitis advocacy group. photo by Heagan Ahmed. 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.