What type of Bee is this?
March 31, 2010
I have searched all morning trying to figure out what type of bee this is, but no luck yet. Everything points to a Carpenter Bee, but I don’t think it is. They are swarming our patio, we live on the 4th floor of a Condo. All have the yellow marking.
Thanks, Mary
Hilton Head Island,South Carolina
Hi Mary,
This is an Eastern Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa virginica, and according to BugGuide: “Large, black hairless abdomen, yellow pile on thorax. Males have yellow/white face. Common in eastern North America, and the only member of its genus in much of range.“ The light face on your individual makes it a male.
We have a lot of these where I live in SC. You will generally find the males swarming around more than the females. From what I have learned, the male bees don’t visit flowers much except to feed themselves, but they will swarm and “dogfight” each other. A distinct characteristic of the Eastern Carpenter male is that they will hover in the air, especially around you when you stumble into their nests. Don’t worry though, the yellow patch between their eyes means they are a male, and they don’t have stingers. Another way to tell the Eastern Carpenter from other bees is their shiny abdomen(stomach part of the bug).