On the lower part of their body, you’ll notice that the bees look a lot more shiny and smooth. Generally speaking, these bees will just have a small patch of hair in the middle of the abdomen. Carpenter bees are nowhere near as hairy as bumblebees so this is one of the easiest ways to tell them apart. When it comes to identifying bee species, it can be difficult as many look very similar. Let them get on with what they’re doing and they’ll leave you alone. However, carpenter bees have a smooth stinger so they can sting time and again.īut again, I’ll reiterate that it’s perfectly possible to live alongside these bees in your garden without ever getting stung. When a honey bee, or any other barbed species, stings, the stinger gets stuck in the victim leaving behind a wound on the bee that is always fatal. However, they’re probably more likely to sting than a honey bee since carpenter bees do not have a barbed sting. Again, they’re docile and usually reluctant to sting unless they really have to. Moreover, if you continue irritating the males, it won’t be long before the females swoop in and they do have a stinger. That said, if you are being ‘attacked’ by male carpenter bees, I’d highly recommend backing off for the simple reason that it’s not nice to upset them. It’s the males that are responsible for protecting the nest but since they don’t even have a stinger, there’s not much that they can do other than buzz around you, which is annoying but not dangerous. You’d really have to work hard to get on to sting you and the only reason they’d ever really do that would be if they felt that their nest was under threat. While carpenter bees might look scary, they’re one of the gentlest bee species out there. It’s really sad that so many people are convinced that bees are a foe rather than a friend but in most cases, these are very docile creatures that just want to go about their business without being bothered. Final Thoughts Do Big Black Bees Sting?īefore we get into what these big black bees are, let’s take a moment to consider whether they are a threat.What Are The Main Differences Between Carpenter Bees And Bumblebees?.If you are concerned about carpenter bees taking up residence around your home, you can protect wood surfaces by keeping it coated with polyurethane or an oil-based paint. ![]() She will then drill a 1-inch hole into the wood before making a right angle and excavating a gallery that is on average between 4 to 6 inches long. When excavating a new nest, the foundress female carpenter bee will drill an entrance hole that is nearly perfectly round and is approximately ½ inch in diameter. These bees prefer to nest in weathered wood, such as siding of a building, fence posts, decks, and eaves. As a downside other bees will access the nectar through these openings and the flower will not get pollinated.Ĭarpenter bees are solitary insects, meaning that there is only one active bee per nest that is responsible for the variety of tasks needed to maintain the nest. Instead they cut an opening at the base of the flower to access the nectar, effectively becoming “nectar robbers”. Due to their large size, carpenter bees often cannot reach a flower’s nectar source. ![]() This behavior is often referred to as “buzz pollination”. Like bumblebees, they use sonication to vibrate and loosen the pollen from a flower’s anthers. ![]() However, you will most likely notice the larger carpenter bees.Ĭarpenter bees are generalists, meaning that they feed on, and therefore pollinate, a variety of plants and crops. You may even come across some species of carpenter bees that are smaller and have a shiny, metallic blue-black or green and purple coloration. ![]() On the other hand, their thorax is very hairy and can have yellow, orange, or white coloration depending on the species. One distinguishing characteristic is that carpenter bees have a shiny black abdomen that has few hairs. Xylocopa micans (Photo credit: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab)Ĭarpenter bees are large pollinators (approximately ¾ to 1 inch in length) that are often mistaken for bumblebees and vice versa.
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