Black insect with thin yellow stripes and ?stinging and/or biting capabilities
Location:  Palo Alto, CA
August 22, 2010 4:41 pm
Dear What’s That Bug,
I had a most unfortunate experience last night and this morning, and I was wondering if you could help me identify *what* it was. A few times during the night I awoke to a buzzing sound in my ear, though I couldn’t find the source. Shortly after I woke up, I felt a sharp pain on my wrist, then a bit later a few more on my back. These became 3 mm tall welts with a sunken poke mark in the middle.
Eventually, I found the source: a black insect with four thin yellow stripes on the last segment. It has something that looks like a short and thin stinger at the end and a pair of pinchers on the head (please excuse my terminology — I have some botanical training, but not entomological!). It also has narrow wings that it usually keeps folded on its body such that it’s hard to see them. Oh, but the insect does fly! There might even be a second, smaller pair of wings under the first, but it’s hard for me to see.
Could you please tell me what this is? I’ve seen these around before, but had never been assaulted by one!
Much thanks,
Bitten and/or stung

Leaf Cutting Bee

Dear Bitten and/or stung,
We suspect you were probably stung, though we are not certain if the sting of a Leaf Cutting Bee in the genus Megachile brings certain death as it does in a Honey Bee worker.  The jaws of a Leaf Cutting Bee are quite pronounced, and perhaps the bite may have caused the reaction you describe.   According to BugGuide:  “Most nest in pre-existent holes in wood. Female typically cuts neat, more-or-less round pieces out of leaves to serve as separators between cells of nest“  and the young feed on a variety of pollens.  Sadly, we fished a drowning Leaf Cutting Bee from our birdbath yesterday and it died.  According to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin:  “”Neatly cut semicircular notches in the leaf edges of one’s rose bushes indicate the presence of these solitary bees in the neighborhood.”

Leaf Cutting Bee

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August 16, 2010
Hello Daniel,
Thanks for your quick response and thorough information. I’m sorry about the cropped pic. My son took the pic and IM’ed it to me. If I can get a better one from him, I will email it to you. My brother and I are very interested in bugs. We have said that since our weather here in Ohio has been very hot and humid this summer and likened to the southern US climate that we may start to see insects indigenous to that area migrating up north. We feel this is an interesting concept and worth the watch. If I notice this then I will email you the info.
I have questions that maybe you can answer. This is regarding the black bumblebee with the fuzzy yellow back. In years past, we would see the regular size bumblebee going from flower to flower gathering pollen and there would be many seen. In more recent years (about five to ten years), this started to change. The bumblebees gathering the pollen are much smaller, few in numbers and now we see huge bumblebees with long thick abdomens in the spring hanging around carports and garages in groups of two to five, and they appear as though they are fighting each other. They have no interest in humans walking past. Their focus is strictly on attacking the other bumblebees. I looked at the BugGuide and there is no listing of the bumblebee as even being in Ohio. As I said, they were plentiful here and we still have them, but few of them are seen today except for what I described. Do you have any information about this and do you know what this spring ritual is?
My brother and I appreciate your information.
Kathy C. Seeman

Hi Kathy,
Without a photo, it would be difficult to be certain, but perhaps your large fighting bees are Carpenter Bees.  See BugGuide for information.

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Large, colorful, bee
Location:  Costa Rica, near San Vito
July 19, 2010 8:35 am
Can you identify this bee. It was photographed at Las Cruces in Costa Rica. It is about 1 inch in length and very colorful.
Thanks
Doug Goodell

Orchid Bee

Hi Doug,
Your excellent photos should make identification quite easy, but alas, we have had no luck trying to identify this species.  We suspect it may be one of the Carpenter Bees in the subfamily Xylocopinae, but that is pure speculation.  Perhaps one of our readers will have better luck than we have had with a species identification.

Orchid Bee

Karl identifies the male Orchid Bee
July 20, 2010
Hi Daniel and Doug:
I believe this is a male orchid bee (Apidae: Apinae: Euglossini) in the genus Eulaema, possibly E. cingulata.  The odd looking object attached to its side or hind leg (hard to tell) looks like an orchid pollen packet, or pollinarium.  Apparently male Euglossine bees are attracted to certain orchids not to gather nectar, which these orchids don’t possess, but rather to collect fragrant compounds which are then used to attract female bees. The male flowers are designed so that the pollinarium is flung onto the bee when it lands, where it sticks until the bee visits a female flower where it completes the pollination. Both males and females visit other flowers to obtain the nectar they need. I did quite a bit or reading last night when I was looking into this because the bee/orchid relationship is truly fascinating, but I will leave it at that for now. I have attached a few links to photos that show E. cingulata, one with pollinaria attached. Regards. Karl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mario_martins/2476618449/
http://www.iepa.ap.gov.br/probio/banco_img/imagensg/abe13.JPG
http://fotos.infojardin.com/subida-foto/images/arx1233284345s.JPG

Thanks Karl,
As always, your contributions are greatly appreciated.  You are awesome.

Hi Daniel
Thanks so much for this info, and please if possible send my thanks to Karl.  I have seen the orchid bees before (in Belize) but they did not have these great colors — but then there several types.  They are certainly facinating. Your links were very convincing.  Again thanks.
Doug Goodel

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