All Multimedia

Potentially new species of Hylaeus from Puerto Rico...certainly new to the island. Collected by Sara Prado. Pictures by Brooke Alexander. 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.

Potentially new species of Hylaeus from Puerto Rico...certainly new to the island. Collected by Sara Prado. Pictures by Brooke Alexander. 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.

Potentially new species of Hylaeus from Puerto Rico...certainly new to the island. Collected by Sara Prado. Pictures by Brooke Alexander. 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.

A couple more shots of the mysterious female masked bee Hylaeus sparsus. These collected by Jessica Rykken in Shenandoah National Park. Rarely collected by found across hundreds of miles of North America. Makes you wonder what we are missing, my guess is we are missing a lot because no body is actually looking.

A very uncommon masked bee. This is Hylaeus sparsus, which is definitely identified by the spike-like angle on the front coxa (the closest joint to the body). Sadly you cannot see that feature in this picture. More of a spring species than many of the Hylaeus it occurs here and there and appears to be associated with wooded areas.

A very uncommon masked bee. This is Hylaeus sparsus, which is definitely identified by the spike-like angle on the front coxa (the closest joint to the body). Sadly you cannot see that feature in this picture. More of a spring species than many of the Hylaeus it occurs here and there and appears to be associated with wooded areas.

A couple more shots of the mysterious female masked bee Hylaeus sparsus. These collected by Jessica Rykken in Shenandoah National Park. Rarely collected by found across hundreds of miles of North America. Makes you wonder what we are missing, my guess is we are missing a lot because no body is actually looking.

A very uncommon masked bee. This is Hylaeus sparsus, which is definitely identified by the spike-like angle on the front coxa (the closest joint to the body). Sadly you cannot see that feature in this picture. More of a spring species than many of the Hylaeus it occurs here and there and appears to be associated with wooded areas.

A rare Masked Bee. This is Hylaues sparsus. It shows up here and there, hard to say where its niche is in the world. No one catches many of them. Can't really pin a habitat on them or a focal plant that they have their favorite pollen.

An underlooked bee, so to speak. Hylaeus sparsus, a small Hylaeus that comes with a nice spine where the leg attaches to the thorax...making ID easy ...if you look for that spine, otherwise it is another small Masked Bee. This one was collected by Jessica Rykken in Shenandoah National Park.

A rare Masked Bee. This is Hylaues sparsus. It shows up here and there, hard to say where its niche is in the world. No one catches many of them. Can't really pin a habitat on them or a focal plant that they have their favorite pollen.

An underlooked bee, so to speak. Hylaeus sparsus, a small Hylaeus that comes with a nice spine where the leg attaches to the thorax...making ID easy ...if you look for that spine, otherwise it is another small Masked Bee. This one was collected by Jessica Rykken in Shenandoah National Park.

A rare Masked Bee. This is Hylaues sparsus. It shows up here and there, hard to say where its niche is in the world. No one catches many of them. Can't really pin a habitat on them or a focal plant that they have their favorite pollen.

An underlooked bee, so to speak. Hylaeus sparsus, a small Hylaeus that comes with a nice spine where the leg attaches to the thorax...making ID easy ...if you look for that spine, otherwise it is another small Masked Bee. This one was collected by Jessica Rykken in Shenandoah National Park.

a lovely lady Hylaeus from Kenya, one of the specimens from the Packer lab that did not make it into the upcoming book. It was a very dirty specimen originally, lots of dust and pollen, thank goodness for photoshop. Also experimented with using the augmentation brush to pull light into dark spots, darken off excess eyeshine, and help with pin removal.

a lovely lady Hylaeus from Kenya, one of the specimens from the Packer lab that did not make it into the upcoming book. It was a very dirty specimen originally, lots of dust and pollen, thank goodness for photoshop. Also experimented with using the augmentation brush to pull light into dark spots, darken off excess eyeshine, and help with pin removal.

a lovely lady Hylaeus from Kenya, one of the specimens from the Packer lab that did not make it into the upcoming book. It was a very dirty specimen originally, lots of dust and pollen, thank goodness for photoshop. Also experimented with using the augmentation brush to pull light into dark spots, darken off excess eyeshine, and help with pin removal.

One of the native species of Maui, here unusually found at lower elevations on the island during surveys last spring. Normally this group is restricted to upper elevations that retain at least a large component of the native flora.

One of the native species of Maui, here unusually found at lower elevations on the island during surveys last spring. Normally this group is restricted to upper elevations that retain at least a large component of the native flora.

One of the native species of Maui, here unusually found at lower elevations on the island during surveys last spring. Normally this group is restricted to upper elevations that retain at least a large component of the native flora.

Hylaeus strenuus, Hawaii, Invasive species, Male, March 2012