New images, captured as part of the US Geological Survey's bee inventory, depict bees in a range of colours including deep blue and bright green.
Researchers spent almost 10 years capturing photographs of North America's 4,000 different bee species.
Dozens of individual pictures of each species, taken at different ranges, were combined to make composite images with a greater depth of field, allowing the insects to be studied more closely.
The system was originally developed by the US Army to capture high quality images of pests found on foreign bases, so that they could be identified by experts.
This pollen-covered bee was collected in the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia.
Sam Droege, head of the program, explained that the appearance of different bee species varies enormously but that most are ignored because they do not sting us and do not resemble the most common types.
He said: Bees come in so many different shapes and sizes because there are so many sizes and shapes to flowers – the two co-evolved together and created specialised systems where certain species of bees only pollinate certain species of plants, using their special bee tools and bee abilities.
Most people are completely oblivious to the existence of the many species of small solitary bees nesting in their lawns because they do not sting and don't match our mind picture of what a bee should look like.
Some are as small as a grain as rice, while others have no stripes and do not sting – hardly fitting the common perception of what a bee is.
While the most common varieties such as honey and bumble bees share a similar, distinctive colour pattern, hundreds of lesser known types have a completely different appearance.
This specimen was collected on a tomato plant in a garden in Laurel, Maryland
Male bees, like the one pictured here, don't have stingers.