Lithurgus chrysurus, f, back, Pika County, PA

A bee from across the pond. This is Lithurgus chrysurus. This is a Euro bee, but in the 70s some one noticed that their house in Philipsburg, NJ was being drilled to bits by bees. Turns out it was the first appearance of this species in North America and, indeed, like the carpenter bee it can make holes in solid wood to create nests, but even more so as they like to aggregate. So, they got rid of the bees and it was said that they had taken care of the problem, but....in the 2000s they were found again in nearby PA and when we looked they were all of the region. They are still limited to PA and NJ, but the expectation is that they will continue to spread throughout the country.....oh, and they are knapweed specialists in 2 minutes I once collected 100 of these bees in a small patch in Philipsburg...watch out. Pictures by Erick Hernandez and Brooke Goggins. 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.