Megachile xylocopoides, m, side, md, kent county

As you can see from the tattered edges of the wings...this is an old bee, meaning it has been out and about for about 5 weeks. This is also a male, one could count the antennal segments (13 in males, 12 in females) but you can also tell by the greatly expanded white front legs, these are used to cover the females eyes during mating.... they also give this bee a Cossack Dancer sort of feel, though that would be anthropomorphisming a bit too much. Also the jet black female of this species is the target of the previous bee, Coelioxys dolichos. Collected at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. 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.