Melitta americana, m, ga, baker, back

Cranberry lover from Georgia. This is a classic example of a bee whose range is restricted by the pollen it needs to feed its young. Melitta americana Occurs only in blogs that contain cranberry plants and since there are not that many blogs that contain cranberry plants, or blogs in general, in the South one does not get to see many specimens of the species, thus it was nice to see this specimen recently from Georgia. There are only three species of Melitta in the Eastern United States and all three of them are specialists on single species of ericacious shrubs. 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.