Category Archives: Valley Carpenter Bee   rss

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Stumped by a backyard find!
Location: Wake Forest, NC
February 3, 2012 5:34 pm
My dog found this insect in our backyard yesterday 2/2/12. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m hoping you can help tell me what it is!
Thank you!
Signature: Megan

eastern carpenter bee megan 300x239 Eastern Carpenter Bee

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Hi Megan,
This sure appears to be an Eastern Carpenter Bee,
Xylocopa virginica.  You can view higher resolution images on BugGuide for comparison.

What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Male Valley Carpenter Bee

Found in Pomona, CA
Location: Pomona, CA
November 10, 2011 2:21 pm
IDK if its a Bee or Beetle? or anything else
Signature: Southern CA Resident

valley carpenter bee male pomona 300x217 Male Valley Carpenter Bee

Valley Carpenter Bee

Dear Southern CA Resident,
This is a male Valley Carpenter Bee.  Females of the species are black and larger.

1

Ensign Wasp and Unknown Bee on Curacao

need help identifying Bug and Bee
Location: Island of Curaçao in the Caribbean
August 19, 2011 7:08 pm
Hi, I am Garrick Marchena, from the island of Curaçao in the Caribbean and I need help identifying these two insects.
I know one of them is a bee, but i need to know what type of bee. Its certainly a type I’ve never seen or heard of before.
The other is an insect known to our island as one that brings luck. It is called ”Mamoendenge” by our local people, but i need to know the official name. It kinda looks like a Mud Dobber wasp but i don’t think it is. Its back part bobs up and down as it walks.
I really appreciate if you can help, but if you can’t maybe you might know someone who does?
thanks you very much,
wkr
Garrick Marchena.
Signature: Garrick

bee curacao garreck 300x214 Ensign Wasp and Unknown Bee on Curacao

Possibly Carpenter Bee

Hi Garrick,
Though we don’t recognize your bee, and we have been unable to locate a match online, we suspect it is some species of Carpenter Bee.  The other insect which you call Mameondenge we find very interesting because of the notion that it brings bad luck.  This is a beneficial Ensign Wasp, so named because of the bobbing of its abdomen which is thought to resemble a flag.  The Ensign Wasp parasitizes the oothica or egg cases of Cockroaches, helping to reduce their population.  We wonder if the name the locals have given it is a reference to dengue fever which is spread by mosquitoes.  You might want to educate the locals as to the importance the Ensign Wasp plays in Cockroach control.

ensign wasp curacao garreck 300x205 Ensign Wasp and Unknown Bee on Curacao

Ensign Wasp

Thanks for the fast response!!!
Locals say that the Esign Wasp (or Mamonedenge) brings GOOD luck actually! Sorri i wasn’t clear on that.
Now that i know this information I’m gonna love this bug even more!
From what I’ve searched on the internet the bee does look like a carpenters bee. Also seems to be a type of solitary type bee.
This is really awesome!
Let me know if you are going to use the pictures because i would like to add a copyright on them first if you don’t mind.
Thank you very much for your help.
Garrick.

Sorry Garrick,
We somehow inserted the word “bad” before luck in your letter.  The images are already posted live and we have cropped them, lightened them and formatted them to our site.  Your name is printed with your original email.

What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Carpenter Bee

Request: Carpenter Bee?
Location: San Antonio, TX Medical Center
July 19, 2011 3:12 pm
Watching and takikng pics of flowers, trees, plants, bugs and other interesting stuff. Was watching a planting of Esperanzas (Tecoma Stans) noting lots of bee activity, then noticed blossoms sort of randomly dropping off. No wind. Got a pic of this bee, do not know if male or female, burrowing into the base of the flowers, I assume extracting nectar, sort of poking in the back door instead of pollinating through the front. Have never seen one this ”metallic” before. HAd much fun stepping around the shrubs trying not to disturb the bees, to get a good shot and also before the UTHSCA Police (Univ Tx Health Science Center San Antonio) ran me off. They plant many interesting drought tolerant flowering plants there an I am usually able to come away from my doc appt with some nice pics.
Signature: Renee

carpenter bee renee 300x247 Carpenter Bee

Carpenter Bee

Hi Renee,
This is a Carpenter Bee, and we have watched Valley Carpenter Bees feeding in a similar manner from sweet pea blossoms in our own garden.

Male Valley Carpenter Bee

Male Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa varipuncta?)
Location: Hawthorne, California
June 25, 2011 12:46 pm
Hi Daniel,
This beauty (new to my yard) let me photograph him for quite some time yesterday. I’m curious as to what the three black things on top of his head are, can you help?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon

male carpenter bee on pincushion flower3 anna 300x187 Male Valley Carpenter Bee

Male Valley Carpenter Bee on Pincushion Flower

Hi Anna,
What a positively beautiful male Valley Carpenter Bee.  We saw one visit the Buddleia or Butterfly Bush while we were in the garden.  Then we remembered that we began to prepare your posting, so we came back inside to complete the preparation.  Those are simple eyes or ocelli forming a triangle on the Valley Carpenter Bees head.  There are some drawings and photos on BugGuide.  We believe the simple eyes help flying insects navigate, but we are not certain of the exact function.

Male Valley Carpenter Bee, dead of unknown causes

Big flying orange insect
Location: Las vegas, nv
April 15, 2011 8:19 pm
We currently live in las vegas nv and we have a problem with black carpenter bees but just recently we started seeing these orange furry bees similar to the carpenter bee and has been behaving as one would but they seem to be a lot more aggressive. I would liked to know if they are harmful as I have three young children any help would be great thanks.
Signature: Crystal

valley carpenter male carnage crystal 300x213 Male Valley Carpenter Bee, dead of unknown causes

Valley Carpenter Bee: Unnecessary Carnage???

Dear Crystal,
This male Valley Carpenter Bee does not appear to have died of natural causes.  Female Valley Carpenter Bees are large black bees that spend much of their time gathering pollen to provision a nest that is excavated in wood.  We have read in Charles Hogue’s excellent book, Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, that they are especially attracted to telephone poles as nesting sites.  The Valley Carpenter Bee exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism.  The male is a beautiful golden color with green eyes.  Male Valley Carpenter Bees are incapable of stinging.  They do aggressively defend their territory, however, they cannot harm people, including young children, nor will they harm pets.  Though female Valley Carpenter Bees might sting, they are not aggressive insects.

Mating Valley Carpenter Bees

digger be mating?
Location: Superior, Az.
March 31, 2011 10:55 pm
Here is a photo I took today (March 31, 2011) in Superior, Az.
To me this looks like a digger bee mating with or riding around on a carpenter bee. They were connected the entire time they flew around the flowers in my yard.
Sexual dimorphism? What do you think?
Signature: T. Stone

carpenter bees mating t stone1 300x206 Mating Valley Carpenter Bees

Mating Valley Carpenter Bees

Dear T. Stone,
We are positively thrilled to receive your photograph that documents mating Valley Carpenter Bees,
Xylocopa varipuncta.  The species does exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism.  The larger black female bee has a much longer lifespan because she must provision the nest with pollen and nectar.  The smaller golden male is quite territorial and aggressive, though he is incapable of stinging.  Females sting reluctantly.  Just yesterday, while working in the garden, we observed a male Valley Carpenter Bee defending his territory near the blossoming sweet peas.  The female Valley Carpenter Bees visit the sweet peas, stealing the nectar, an action described by BugGuide:  “Due to their large size, carpenter bees cannot enter tubelike blossoms such as sage, so they slit the base of corolla, a practice known as ‘stealing the nectar’ (without pollinating the flower). (UC, Davis)”  BugGuide also notes:  “Their eggs are the largest of all insect eggs. The Valley carpenter bee egg can be 15mm long. (UC, Davis)”

Update: April 2, 2011
Since Spring is in the air, we thought we would post this little excerpt from Daniel’s book, The Curious World of Bugs:  “One can’t help but be amused at the certain awkwardness that parents might encounter when using the proverbial bees to explain the facts of life to youngsters.  Most female honeybees are sterile workers that do not mate, the male drones are lazy freeloaders whose sole purpose is to fertilize the queen, and the queen loses her virginity to multiple partners in a short period of time in an insect orgy.  These are hardly the values that responsible parents would want to teach to their impressionable children.”


Question about Carpenter Bee nests
Male and female  valley carpenter bees
December 10, 2011 1:47 am
I live in highland park, CA.  And after very high winds here recently our tree in the backyard lost some large branches.  I started sawing the branches manually when I heard a distant buzzing sound and when I looked at the other end of the branch about a dozen male and female of these
bees had burrowed into this branch.  I’m wondering if their presence in the tree is killing the tree which helps us all breathe.   I dont want to harm them in any way. How can I gently have them depart the tree so that they may make their home elsewhere? Thank you kindly
Signature: Rey

Greetings Rey,
Our offices are in nearby Mt. Washington.  While we are not debating what you saw, we will challenge your interpretation of what you saw.  Valley Carpenter Bees are solitary bees.  After mating, the female excavates a tunnel in usually dead or dying wood, and then proceeds to construct a number of nursery chambers that each houses a solitary larva.  What you encountered is most likely a recently metamorphosed brood or broods that were uncovered when the tree was damaged.  These bees are not interested in returning to any nest, though a mated female may construct a new nest in the same tree.  Any Valley Carpenter Bee colony would have to be very extensive to kill a tree, however, weakened branches may snap in another wind storm if there is a significant amount of nest excavation.

11

Carpenter Bee

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 nc 300x244 Carpenter Bee

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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