Lasioglossum sopinci, m, faceside, anne arundel county, md

We have had pictures of this sand lover before, but just got this one fresh from a study of a local sand mine where with the state mines division they created new bee habitat as a trial and this sand specialist was glad to show up. In the side projection you can see both how small this bee is (that is one of the tiniest of acupuncture needles (thanks Marty) holding up its head) and how lovely it is in its egg shape. Note the angulate cheek and the nicely arched mandible, with white-yellow t-bird marking. Somehow this presentation makes me think of an automotive advertisement. 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.