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Euglossa bee

What is this?
Hi Daniel,
I was happy to hear from you,and wanted to let you know that as soon as I can I will send some pictures for your site,things tend to go in cycles with me getting busier at certain times as well,however in the meantime I’m sending a picture,not resized to your sites specs, just the site it was submitted to,but just so you can see because I’m wondering if you can tell me what kind of insect this is…it acts like a bee,and I’ve seen them around my yard a lot,and have always called them little green bees,but I have no clue as to what they actually are,I live in South Florida,near the Fort Lauderdale area. I submit to photography sites,so most likely I’ll be asked by everyone what it is,I’m really hoping you’ll know!!!
Thanks very much,
Beth Bernier

green bee or fly Euglossa bee

Hi Beth,
Your photo is absolutely gorgeous. We were unsure exactly what your beautiful metallic insect was. It is colored like a sweat bee or a cuckoo wasp, but its body form resembled a fly more. The telltale feature of a fly is that they have two and not four wings. We are turning to a more knowledgeable source:
“Dear Daniel: Boy, that sure does look like an orchid bee in the genus Euglossa, but as far as I know, they are found strictly south of the Mexican border. I suppose it could be a recent introduction (or something else I am unfamiliar with), Definitely an apid bee of some sort. Thanks for sharing!
Sincerely,
Eric”
Later Eric wrote back
Euglossa bee? Daniel:
Here is a real expert answer as to what the bee is (it is a Euglossa sp.), and how it might have turned up so far out of its normal range.
Eric
Dear Friends, esp. Doug Y:
I think this is a Euglossa sp. bee, but what would it be doing in Ft. Lauderdale???
Obviously, it’s visiting flowers. icon wink Euglossa bee
At any rate, this is not surprising, given that it’s a well-known phenomenon for hurricanes to move insects around. Many, MANY of the odd US records for Mexican lepidoptera coincide with major storms – and I certainly think this year would qualify as a major storm year. So, I would expect such a stray to be a meaningless data point, especially as it’s a male Euglossa – though if there’s one, there may be more, and if that includes some fertilized females, then who knows? Climatically, there isn’t really any obvious reason southern Florida couldn’t support orchid bees. If there are repeated sightings in the future, then at least we have some evidence pointing to this being the year the invasion might have occurred.
Peace,
Doug Yanega
Dept. of Entomology, Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California – Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0314
phone: (951) 827-4315
(standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR’s)
http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html

Hi Daniel,
Well that’s quite exciting news!!! If your expert friends are interested..I can tell you that these bees have been here at least a year,perhaps longer as I have been trying to get a good photo of one for at least that long,and there have been at a few bees present most times,they seem to love my wild morning glories,as well as the flowers shown in the image,in fact they seem to be quite attracted to any flower in the violet/blue color. I’ve also seen them before at a nearby nature preserve called Fern Forest.My exact address is 5500 SW 6th Court in Margate,Fl. That’s so an exact location can be noted,also if there’s anyone that wishes to contact me about the bees for scientific purposes please feel free to give them my email address. Thank you again for your help!
Beth

Update: (12/14/2006)
Hello my name is Lance I have seen this bug as well in South Florida. It is bright green and an incredible flier. I have seen this bug hover in a single spot as still as a statue, then very quickly dart just a couple of inches over left or right or forward. I wish I could get a picture of it. It went into a hole it made or something else made burrowed into concrete….perhaps building a nest….I just wanted you all to know the behavior so maybe it would help better understand it….maybe a new kind of bug

Posted 06 October 2004 § ‡ Comments (2) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Carpenter Bee

Need help identifying beetle species
Hi there…
I was looking at your beetle database trying to identify this one. At first I thought it’s part of Dynastes tityus female, then I notice that the back is totally different. It’s a big one though. I would say at least 2”.
Regards,
Amrul Isham Ismail

carpenter flying Carpenter Beecarpenter landing Carpenter Bee

Hi Amrul Isham Ismail,
You don’t have a beetle at all, but what appears to be a Carpenter Bee. We really like your action photos.

Posted 11 August 2004 § Carpenter Bee ‡ Comments (0) °

Carpenter Bee

Hi,
I am scratching all over after seeing the pictures of the bugs on your site… icon wink Carpenter Bee My boys caught a bug today and put it in a jar (boys will be boys) and asked me what it was. Now, I am no bug woman so I found you on the web…. It’s got three pairs of fuzzy black legs, Two wings that are a shiny blueish-green. Its body is in three parts. It’s got two mandibles (is that what those things on the mouth are called??). It looks like a giant fuzzy spider/bee!! I am reading this and I can’t
believe it!!! Well, I hope I have given enough info for you to start identifying this thing in a jar right next to me!!!!!! (eeek!)
Thanks,
Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,
Might be a Carpenter Bee. All insects have
six legs and three body parts, so that is a general description. Bees are often hairy, so your guess might be correct.

Thanks, I don’t think it’s a carpenter bee cause it is much bigger (2.5 to 3 cm). The body (the third part) is like a shiny black slinky and is fuzzy on the edges. I tried to take pictures of it, here is one : Boy, what a mommy will do for her boys, and thank god there are people who have the info!!
Thanks again,
cynthia

carpenter bee cynthia Carpenter Bee

Hi again Cynthia,
We are fairly sure that is a Carpenter Bee. Don’t know where you are writing from or what the species is.

Posted 05 August 2004 § Carpenter Bee ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Giant Resin Bees

Hey Bugman,
I tried accessing your site but it was down due to too much traffic. Congratulations, I guess!! icon smile Giant Resin Bees Anyway, yesterday I noticed about 5-6 really large bees hovering outside my screened porch in Birmingham, AL. They weren’t digging in the wood, just walking all over the screen, like they were trying to nest there. Today, there must have been 2-3 dozen of them. I sprayed them repeatedly, many died, but most came back for more.
Needless to say, we were totally icked out and want these large things gone if possible. Can you tell us who this is that has invaded our home. I’ve attached a picture that shows three of them after they’ve been nuked and out in the sun for some time. What are these scary invaders? Thanks for your help and your great insight and web site.
Sincerely,
Ben Fineburg

carpenter bees dead Giant Resin Bees

Dear Ben Fineburg,
Yes, we are down due to heavy traffic, thanks in part to the USA Today Hot Site selection on 7 June. We have just paid for an upgrade and expect to be back up within 24 hours. Your bees look similar, but slenderer than our California Carpenter Bees. It is possible that a female dug a burrow and her brood has recently emerged. Young bees will rest awhile before taking flight. Carpenter Bees can cause considerable damage to wood, but they generally are not aggressive and are reluctant to sting. They are solitary bees, meaning they do not form a hive proper. A female will excavate a burrow in the wood and lay several dozen eggs. Like I said, your specimens look slender, but they could be Xylocopa virginica or a close relative.

Correction courtesy of John Ascher
April 22, 2012
This post is of Megachile sculpturalis not carpenter bees!

Posted 20 June 2004 § Resin Bees ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Metallic Sweat Bee

We found this beautiful Sweat Bee busily gathering honey and pollen from a wild artichoke in the canyon today. These are solitary bees with metallic green bodies. They nest in a tubular burrow dug in the ground, often in clay banks. They are members of the genus Augochlorella.

metalic sweat bee Metallic Sweat Bee

ed. Note: (09/06/2004) Eric just wrote in: “The metallic sweat bee is probably an Agapostemon sp. rather than whatever the current name on it is, but they are hard to separate without the specimen in hand.”

(06/07/2004) Are we really a USA Today Hot Site?

Saw your web site – Hot Site from USA Today.
Just shot this last weekend.. The bees were going crazy over this bush in my yard.. Didn’t mind me one bit. It was amazing to me to see how much this bee had stuck to it.
Cheers,
John

honey bee Metallic Sweat Bee

Thanks for the Honey Bee photo John.

Posted 18 June 2004 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Valley Carpenter Bee Female

The black Female Valley Carpenter Bees have been having a field day on our sweet peas and honey suckle.

valley carpenter female Valley Carpenter Bee Female valley carpenter female2 Valley Carpenter Bee Female

Valley Carpenter Bee Male

carp bee Valley Carpenter Bee Female

Valley Carpenter Bee and White Lined Sphinx Hornworm

Thanks for your article identifying the "fuzzy blonde bees" that have been patrolling our hillside for the last week. I’m so glad my Yahoo search came up with your page. It was very hard to find any info on anything but black carpenter bees, even in our 3 or 4 insect field guides only one mentioned that carpenter bees could be coloured differently.
We have a current troop of about 5 "blonde boys" and as of yet, no sign of their black female counterparts.
I’ve attached a jpg of a larvae we have found here lately. Have never seen it before in 7 years… Now we’ve seen two, both striped with anal horns. One, in the creek, was much darker than this one, but on both the horn and the mouthparts are gold. We have very few domestic plants around our cabin in the National Forest, but tons of nightshade. Could these be hornworms of some type? They are quite lovely to behold, but a very odd find here.
Thanks,
V Novo

caterpillar whitelinedsphin Valley Carpenter Bee Female

Dear V Novo,
The male Valley Carpenter Bees, Xylocopa varipuncta, are much shorter lived than the females. I have been seeing female bees this spring, visiting my Honey Suckle as well as the Wisteria.
Your caterpillar is a White Lined Sphinx or Striped Morning Sphinx, Hyles lineata, a beautiful moth with a three inch wingspan. I have been seeing adult moths on the USC campus, resting in the eaves of the outdoor hallways near the art building. They have an almost infinite list of food plants, but are very fond of fuschia.

Posted 24 April 2004 § Carpenter Bee ‡ Comments (0) °

Carpenter Bee?

Hi Bugman,
Big delimma here. We live in Las Vegas, NV close to the Red Rock Mountains, which is just high desert and red rock, but in the warmer months, we get these GIANT , solid black flying bugs that make a buzzing noise while in flight, they are about the size of a baby humming bird, and they have very round full bodies. We are at a complete loss as to what family these monsters belong to. Could they be some sort of giant fly, bee, or buzzard? We have actually been chased (or so it seemed at the time) by these things. Please give some sort of clue as to where we might be able to even start to identify these awful things. Because of these and their size, my poor children are afraid to go out doors to play. Please email back
as soon as humanly possible.
Thank you so very much
Blondi

Hi Blondi,
My first guess would be a Carpenter Bee. the females are black and buzz. They burrow into telephone poles to nest. While large and loud, they are not aggressive and rarely sting.

Posted 08 April 2004 § Carpenter Bee ‡ Comments (0) °

Bees

Hello!
I have a lot of green flies that live in the ground. They have many holes , in the sand of my flagstone path, that they go in and out of of the holes all day, more so in the morning. They have bright green bodies, it looks like they are collecting pollen because some have a lot of yellow powder on there back legs. They are not causing any problems they are actually really fun to watch I just wanted to know what they are doing in there underground world.
Thanks !
Lesha Bertolucci
Petaluma, CA

Dear Lesha,
Metallic Sweat Bees Agapostemon and Augochlorella species, have bright, usually green bodies and nest in the ground, digging tubular burrows. they are called Sweat Bees since they are often attracted by human perspiration. They do pollinate flowers.

Posted 01 January 2000 § ‡ Comments (0) °

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