Faces of select bees from San Diego, CA

This is a collection of photographs featuring the faces of select bee species collected in San Diego, CA, meant to showcase the morphological diversity of native bees inhabiting Southern California's bee biodiversity hotspot. Photo subjects were preserved specimens mounted on entomological pins; these specimens were collected in one of two projects: (1) surveys of native bees in scrub habitat fragments and natural reserves in western San Diego County to investigate the impact of habitat fragmentation on native bee communities, or (2) surveys of native bees in natural habitats throughout San Diego County to establish an inventory of species within the County, to serve as a baseline for future monitoring and conservation efforts. Photographs were taken using a DSLR camera mounted in the camera port of a trinocular dissecting microscope; each image is a composite of 12-20 images taken across a span of focal lengths and digitally recomposed in Zerene Stacker software to ensure that all features are in focus.

The images depict full-frontal portraits of bees unless stated otherwise.