Subject: It looks like a bee?
Geographic location of the bug: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date: 09/03/2017
Time: 12:19 AM EDT
Hello there. I came across this beautiful insect, which is the size of my thumb when I got back home. Sadly, I couldn’t get a photo of its full body, but it somewhat resembles a bee when it comes out from burrowing in the wood.
I was fascinated how it bore a hole, but I did not want to bother it. Again, it resembled a bee in flight and outside the burrow, since I got it to fly out. I checked on it later to see if it’s out of the burrow, but it returned to chewing wood.
How you want your letter signed: Thank you for helping me identify this fascinating insect. I hope to hear from you in the near future.
This is definitely a Carpenter Bee, and according to Anim Agro Technology: “CARPENTER BEES (Xylocopa spp) or locally in Malaysia known as Lebah Tukang or Lebah Kayu are the largest bee species.” The site has wonderful images and information. Your Carpenter Bee might be Xylocopa aestuans, a species from nearby Singapore which is profiled on taxo4254.