Gigantic Bumblebee looking insect
Location: Greensboro, NC (north central piedmont region)
March 18, 2011 4:18 pm
There are these gigantic insects in my backyard. They look like HUGE bumblebees, except not really fuzzy (as best I can tell, I’m kind of scared to get too close). There are no flowers around my backyard or my neighbors. I usually see one to three at a time and they like to just hover in mid-air. They don’t seem to be vicious, my dogs have snapped at them and they ignore them (and are smart enough to know exactly how high to hover to stay out of reach!). But they are huge and I’m allergic to bees … so while they don’t seem interested in stinging me, I’d like to know what the heck they are so I can be prepared. I’m trying to get a picture, but it won’t stay still long enough, so the attached picture is probably not helpful at all! I figured I’d ask anyway, a description follows. (If I can get a good picture, I will re-submit, but I’ve been trying for a few days with no luck).
It’s significantly larger than a regular bee; probably around the size of a quarter (not as wide, but certainly as long). It’s black and yellow, striped towards the head, solid black at the end, the underside is kind of shiny (although it doesn’t really look fuzzy like a bumblebee towards the head, either), and it likes to dart and then hover for a few seconds before ”leisurely” flying a little bit, hovering, then eventually darting off. It’s a little longer and thinner than a bumbleebee, but still kind of bulbous-looking. Please help, I’m scared to go in my backyard until I know what it is!! Please let me know if i can send more info, as well (I will try to get a better picture)
Signature: Scared of my backyard!
Carpenter Bee
Dear Scared,
We are relatively certain based on your photo and your excellent description that this is a Carpenter Bee, probably an Eastern Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa virginica, which you may read about on BugGuide. Though we try to avoid linking to Wikipedia, it does contain this information: “Carpenter bees are not solitary bees, but are not truly social either. The weak form of sociality they exhibit, with one female doing the majority of the work, and caring for her sisters, may be a transitional step in the evolution of sociality. However they tend to be gregarious, and often several will nest near each other. Male eastern carpenter bees are curious and will investigate anyone, including humans, that comes near their nests. The curiosity is often interpreted as aggressiveness; however, the males are only aggressive to other male carpenter bees. They do not have stingers and cannot cause any real harm. The female carpenter bees tend to be busy with floral visitation and nest provisioning, but have the ability to cause a painful sting if captured. Males spend many hours guarding their territory against other males, hovering about the nests for hours on sunny days. They sometimes attempt to mate with other insects or small birds. An interesting trick to use to ‘move’ a male carpenter bee out of the way is to pick up a small pebble (roughly the size of the bee), then toss it past the bee. They will attempt to chase it, distracting them for a few moments, long enough for a human to get by. However, since they cannot sting, and rarely accord any attention to humans, this is unnecessary. Carpenter bees are strong fliers, capable of returning to their nests from some miles away, but not very agile. They tend to be clumsy, frequently almost crashing into the side of a wall or various trees and plants. On occasions, the bees will fly into old windows made of acrylic glass, as UV light can pass through it and the bee sees it as open. Carpenter bees are not aggressive. Often, a carpenter bee preoccupied with something will not sting or flee when approached closely or even touched by a human, but merely raise one or two of its legs in the air instead.”
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