Macro photographs of bees - in pictures

A female Augochloropsis metallica bee, collected from a tomato plant in San Francisco.
Turning the lens on every groove and hair, Sam Droege and his team at the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab are on a mission to capture the portraits of the 4,000 species of bee found in the United States. Their goal is to create a comprehensive online reference for identification
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Anthophora affabilis bee from Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Andrena erythronii bee.
It’s a herculean task but, with bee populations under threat, such a resource could prove invaluable to those monitoring species. 'The biggest problem in developing some understanding of how bees are doing is how to identify the bees you’re seeing or that you’ve captured,' Droege says. With many species distinguished by subtle differences, relying on descriptions alone can lead to mistakes
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Eucera rosae bee from Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A male Bombus bimaculatus bee from Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.
Droege’s high resolution images leave no room for ambiguity. 'The whole insect is in focus at incredible detail,' he says
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Habropoda laboriosa bee from Kent County, Maryland. A blueberry specialist
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A Megachile fortis bee from Badlands National Park, South Dakota.
Prior to 2010 the team had been trying to create the Inventory by strapping simple point-and-shoot cameras to microscopes, with disappointing results
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Centris species bee from the Dominican Republic
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Xylocopa mordax bee from the Dominican Republic.
In 2010, the team was approached by the US Army who had pioneered macro photography techniques, borne of necessity. 'Military personnel are exposed to all kinds of diseases,' says Droege. 'In fact, a much bigger problem than getting shot is getting bitten by some kind of insect and not knowing what it is and coming down with a disease.' Previously, troops would have to catch and send samples to experts for identification but, by developing techniques to capture highly detailed images, identification and medical advice can be issued more rapidly
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Halictus ligatus bee, from the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, covered in pollen from an unknown plant
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A male Ceratina smaragdula bee from Oahu, Hawaii.
From that point onwards, Sam and his team adopted and modified the macro photography technique and resumed photographing their specimens
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A male Euglossa dilemma bee from Biscayne National Park.
To capture the bees with such detail, Droege and his team take several different shots of the (already dead) insect and combine them together to form one image using a special software. This software creates detailed macro images which can be blown up to three square metres without pixelating
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A male Anthophora bomboides bee from Allegany County, Maryland.
'We do select out the supermodel bees,' admits Droege. 'We wash them in soapy water and then we blow dry them to make them look good.'
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

A female Centris haemorrhoidalis bee from Puerto Rico
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab

The USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab don't just do bees. Here is the face of Phidippus clarus, a jumping spider, found at Beltsville, Maryland.
To see more beautiful photographs of insects and animals taken by Sam Droege, Brooke Alexander, Sue Boo, Heagan Ahmed and Sierra Williams view their flickr site here
Photograph: Sam Droege and the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab