<p>Bombus ashtoni!  This is news.  This species of bumble bee is nest parasite.  They take over the nests of other bumble bees and use the host's workers to produce their progeny.  This one is special because its known hosts are B. affinis (the endangered Rusty-patched Bumble Bee) and B. terricola (a species that declined greatly from its former numbers, but may be recovering now.  Thus the odds were stacked against our parasite friend, who may also be vulnerable to the pathogens that took out these species.  
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<pre>   So, how cool was it when Matt Schlesinger/Amanda Dillon passed a few "interesting" bumble bees collected in the Albany Pine Bush in New York by specimens by Tim McCabe in 2016 and there it was.
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<p>Leif Richardson (keeper of the Bumble Bee Database) writes about the last eastern records for B. ashtoni:    Michael Veit got it in NH in 2010 and MA in 2008. Sheila Colla has a 2008 record from Pinery in ON (west of the Appalachians). I have three records 2007-2008 from Michel Savard and Pierre-Marc Brousseau in Quebec.  Next most recent are from Cory Sheffield in Nova Scotia, 2002. 
</p><p><b>               21:49, 4 February 2017 (UTC)21:49, 4 February 2017 (UTC){{{{{{0}}}}}}21:49, 4 February 2017 (UTC)21:49, 4 February 2017 (UTC)</b>
</p><p>All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
</p><p><b>Photography Information: </b>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
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Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
</p>
<pre>        " Ode on a Grecian Urn"
                      John Keats
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</p><p>You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML     <b>Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use?  Well now here you go Citizen:</b>
</p><p>Art Photo Book:  Bees:  An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.qbookshop.com/products/216627/9780760347386/Bees.html?google_preview_products_28954=1">www.qbookshop.com/products/216627/9780760347386/Bees.html...</a>
</p><p>Basic USGSBIML set up:
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY">www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY</a>
</p><p>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 rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4">www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4</a>
</p><p>PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:  
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf">ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf</a>
</p><p>Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo">plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo</a>
or 
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU">www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU</a>
</p><p>Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.photomacrography.net/">www.photomacrography.net/</a>
</p><p><b>Contact information:</b>  
Sam Droege  
sdroege@usgs.gov
</p>
301 497 5840
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/54563451@N08">USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab</a> from Beltsville, Maryland, USA
2017-02-02 19:29
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/32295476880/">Bombus ashtoni, f, face, albany, mccabe_2017-02-01-12.49</a>