Subject: wood boring wasp?
Location: brisbane Australia
March 23, 2014 12:40 am
Hey bugman just wondering what this is. Has been boring into wood for years and we’ve never known what it is
Signature: wood boring wasp
This is a Bee, not a Wasp, and we quickly identified it as a Fire-Tailed Resin Bee, Megachile (Callomegachile) mystaceana, (Chalicodoma mystaceana), thanks to the Brisbane Insect Website where it states: “This is a solitary bee and build nest by resin, gum or mud in enclosed spaces such as space between folds of fabric and old Mud-Dauber Wasp nest. They will nest in drilled wooden blocks too. … This Resin Bee female builds nest in existing cavity.” If that information is accurate, something else is boring the holes that these resourceful and opportunistic Fire-Tailed Resin Bees are using as nesting sites.