John.

If it's different enough to be hard to recognize, it's probably a good illustration of the variability of the species. Someone with a similar specimen would benefit from seeing that there are such different honeybees.

Same, but better, I'd say. If you think otherwise, please advise and I'll de-frass.

but different. The abdomen (metasoma?) is solid black on the other one and a mixture of brown and black on this one. The difference in "fuzz" on the thorax is no doubt a matter of wear.

I suppose it's more of a philosophical question: do you show a few "model" specimens that look nice and display diagnostic features most clearly, or do you show ones that look like the ones a site visitor wants to identify? Is a good image of an unimpressive specimen really "bad"?

If it were my image, I'd keep it, but there are plenty of others who would disagree.

Besides, if I understand Jeff's question, it had more to do with the previous series: the one you have in your thumbnail has all the diagnostic features visible, so the other three aren't that useful. This one is a different view:

but the other two are minor variants of the first one.

I'd originally posted four very similar shots here. After his comment - and pre-ID - I deleted two images, leaving the "main" one alone and consigning this linked image to Frass. After ID, I deleted the main image.

Although I had provided a thumbnail of my first post with the main image, my assumption is that Jeff's comment was confined to this one, but I did react a bit oddly to what he said, partly because he'd just posted 14 shots on a mantis. Anyway, water under the dam(n).

My personal rule is that, if someone asks me to keep an image, I do. Often, I'm my own worst editor. I appreciate your opinions and feel that we are pretty much in sync, particularly from a philosophic standpoint.

case you hadn't noticed, my 14 images were 28 images of a mantis molting series and wing development series.
Not 28 images of a mantis in slightly different positions (well actually it was, but you know what I mean).

It just felt funny in the context of my post. I did mention it was a knee-jerk reaction. You do some really nice stuff, and I was being repetitive.

I just didn't want you thinking I was calling the kettle black!

Taken