Megachile campanulae, male, underside head

A pair of head shots...including the rarely seen underside of a bee head. The species: Megachile campanulae. From: Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Status common and regular if you swing a net in the summer. Megachile always have lovely omatidia (those lovely hex things on the compound eyes). I an not sure why, but the photograph well and I am attracted to that look. Look at th underside shot. note the shape of the mandibles from this perspective, note the slot under the head where the folded tongue resides, look at the expanded tarsal segments on the front legs of this male...surely involved in mating (the only thing of significance male bees do). Now, friend, you have another window into how incredibly different bees are from you and me and all other vertebrates for that matter. A super successful planet earth model, just one unlikely to ever develop a large brain. Photographed by Sue Boo and shopped by Elizabeth Garcia. 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.