Thalestria spinosa, f, face

Thalestria spinosa..the only member of its genus and a nest parasite of the genus Oxaea. Note that both genera have glints of metallic integument just to make them more attractive to humans. Sadly my lovely interns did not record where this particular specimen was collected, but I do know the specimen is likely about 100 years old and part of the Smithsonian collection. Oh, check out the 4 lovely spines floating off the back of the thorax. Sadly mammals like use never get to where this sort of spine. 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.