Macropis nuda, f, back redo, Maine, Du Clos

A small bee that specializes in collecting oil along with pollen and probably some nectar from plants in the genus Lysimachia, the loosestrife's (but not the invasive garden loosestrife or purple loosestrife). These bees are now very uncommon, probably due to declines in the plants that they forage from and also perhaps due to the fact that there are fewer people collecting and looking at bees than there were 100 years ago. This particular one was collected by Brianne Du Clos in Maine. Photography by Dejen Mengis. 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.