Pasites maculatus, White-spotted Red Cuckoo Bee, specimen collected by Ron McGinley in Pakistan

Taxonomists have given plenty of Red Cuckoo Bees names, 23 globally to be exact, but only the White-spotted Red Cuckoo Bee has received much attention beyond the usual cataloging. Unlike almost all of its Red Cuckoo Bee relatives it does not live in Sub-Saharan Africa but in a wide band from Europe to the Pacific Coast of China. Jerry Rozen, who has devoted his long career to the study of the nesting behavior and biology of bees, excavated the nests of this species on an expedition to Pakistan with Ron McGinley who collected the bee pictured here on that trip.

This species of bee actually makes no nest of its own, rather, it slips into the nest of another bee (Pseudapis diversipes, very much like the specimen imaged in account XXX) which has already gone to the trouble of digging a nest in the ground and gathering provisions of nectar and pollen for its young. While the host is out, the White-spotted Red Cuckoo Bee inserts is egg quickly into the wall of the host’s nest, actually folding the egg in half during the process (ouch!). The young Red Cuckoo Bee later hatches and with large, scimitar-like mandibles assassinates the host egg or young larva, slashing it to pieces . Bees are so sweet!

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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

Further in Summer than the Birds Pathetic from the Grass A minor Nation celebrates Its unobtrusive Mass. No Ordinance be seen So gradual the Grace A pensive Custom it becomes Enlarging Loneliness. Antiquest felt at Noon When August burning low Arise this spectral Canticle Repose to typify Remit as yet no Grace No Furrow on the Glow Yet a Druidic Difference Enhances Nature now

      -- Emily Dickinson

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

Basic USGSBIML set up: www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY

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. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4

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: plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo or www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU

Excellent Technical Form on Stacking: www.photomacrography.net/

Contact information: Sam Droege sdroege@usgs.gov