Intersex. This bee has both male and female sections, a gynandromorph. The only place it was expressed, if I remember correctly, was the face. The bee's left side is male (short scape, more appressed/flattened white hairs, 13 antennal segments (though the end is broken off), and likely a simple rather than 2 toothed tip of the mandible (which you really can see if this picture). Such things happen regularly (likely in all animals including people) and we see them about 1 out of 30k specimens or soish. This specimen collected from Poplar Island in the Chesapeake Bay by Gene Scarpulla, 17:12, 7 May 2021 (UTC)17:12, 7 May 2021 (UTC){{{{{{0}}}}}}17:12, 7 May 2021 (UTC)17:12, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.

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

We Are Made One with What We Touch and See

We are resolved into the supreme air, We are made one with what we touch and see, With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair, With our young lives each spring impassioned tree Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.

       - Oscar Wilde

You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML

Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:

Best over all technical resource for photo stacking: <a href="http://www.extreme-macro.co.uk" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.extreme-macro.co.uk/</a>

Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland: <a href="http://bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf" rel="noreferrer nofollow">bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf</a>

Basic USGSBIML set up: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY</a>

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. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4</a>

Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections">www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections</a>

PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up: ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf

Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques: <a href="https://plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo" rel="noreferrer nofollow">plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU</a>

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking: <a href="http://www.photomacrography.net/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.photomacrography.net/</a>

Contact information: Sam Droege sdroege@usgs.gov

301 497 5840