Green Metallic Bee

bugman

July 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am

Categories

Bees

wood eater / wood nester?
Good day Bugman,
I live in a log home. I recently found that one of the logs holding up one end of my front porch awning was damaged at its base. I started to pick away at the wood, thinking first it was water damage. As I continued to dig my fingers vertically up through the center of the log, I found a bunch of shiny, greenish, winged bugs with antani on their heads. They are a little over a 1/4" long and 1/16" wide. The look abit like one would think a "green hornet" would look. I thought they were termites, but I looked up termite on google and did not find a photo that matched my bug. Any idea what this bug is?
Thanks,
Robert Nieminen
Southbury, CT

Hi Robert,
We believe this is a Green Metallic Bee in the genus Augochlora, in the Halictid Family. According to the Audubon Guide: the “Female digs nest of many branching burrows in dead wood or uses pre-existing borrows of other insects. Female supplies each cell with pollen ball and nectar, and lays an egg on each ball. Larvae or pupae overwinter. Adults emerge in spring.”