Megachile lanata, female, back

Guantánamo Bay Cuba is not widely known for its bee fauna. But it should be. Sean Brady and I collected there for a number of years and we were able to obtain over one third of all the known bees from Cuba, including several new species. The species here, Megachile lanata, is not a new species and in fact is found throughout the world as a tramp. It hides in shipping crates and even probably the timbers of old ships and has been known to occur in the Caribbean area for decades, if not centuries. Elsewhere on our flickr site are even more spectacular pictures of the species from Cuba, but this one, while nice, has a little bit too prominent a pin sticking through it. Brooke Alexander to do photography and Elizabeth Garcia did the shopping. 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.