Sluggin' Along: The Bee's Knees

I recently took some photos of what I thought was a bumblebee. As it turns out, I made a common mistake: confusing the bumblebee (Bombus spp.) with the carpenter bee (Xylocopa spp.). We often see "bumblebees" around our yard, when in fact they are really carpenter bees. Now, we did have some carpenter bees that nested in the wooden post of our front porch. We assumed that if we didn't observe them burrowing into wood, but buzzing around flowers, they must be bumblebees. Not so!

Here are some characteristics distinguishing the genae and males from females:

Bumblebees have yellow or black hair covering their abdomens, while carpenter bees have shiny, black, almost hairless abdomens.
Both bumblebees and carpenter bees have yellow hair on their thoraxes. All carpenter bees have a round bare spot (shiny and black) on top, while only some bumblebee species do.
Bumblebees are social insects, nesting underground and traveling between their nests and flowers (which provide food). By contrast, carpenter bees are not social. They nest in trees and wooden structures.
Male carpenter bees can be recognized by a white or yellow cuticle on their face. Females have an all-black face.
Male carpenter bees guard the nest vigilantly and are wary of intruders into their territory. However, males cannot sting, and females will only if handled.
Male carpenter bees are seen more often than females.

While carpenter bees do not cause structural damage in a single nesting period, successive generations can. Remember, they do not eat the wood; they carve out a shelter within it for themselves and their larvae. Thus there is often some "sawdust" where the holes have been drilled. Another concern is the defecation around the nesting site, which leaves stains on the surface.

Now that you understand a bit more about carpenter bees, here are the photos I took of a male (most likely the Eastern Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa virginica, though it could also be the smaller Southern Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa micans) harvesting pollen and nectar from a butterfly bush. Males do not gather food for the nest; that's the females' job. Instead, males venture out to feed themselves or to encounter other females.