The Carpenter Bees -Xylocopa Latipes
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For me, I have always taken for granted that the large bee with rounded body as Bumble Bee. Well, sorry it's not! Bumble Bees, true have a rounded body, but the main difference - its abdomen is hairy and may have some yellow markings. So this more common Bee as shown in this pictures is the Carpenter Bee.
It is shiny virtually hairless abdomen. World wide there should be 7 species. Locally known as Lebah Tukang or Kayu. As for scientific names there was no way or comparison, I choose the name for the tropical species
Carpenter Bees has a nasty habit or swooping down and whirling around person with no menace but scary. male Carpenter Bees has no stinger. That action is just for show and intimidation as one is getting into his way, The female do sting if provoke!
The name "Carpenter Bees" was given to this species, following their habits of boring holes on wooden surfaces. Preparing their nest for young.
Physically, both male and female look alike. Perhaps only a small tell tale signs. Males have small white marking while the female head is pure black.
As mentioned earlier they bore into wood to make their nest, this kind of bees do not have hive and are solitary insect.
I love the colours reflected in bright sunlight, that's the reason more pictures were chosen
Carpenter Bees have a bluish-black, green or purplish metallic sheen. If they have made their nest within the confine of the house, their droppings do stain the floor
Been pondering why I do not see Carpenter Bees
patronising the flowers in my garden! Answer is obvious,
with their bulky bodies, flowers in my garden too minute for
them. Picture below confirms that.
Below :- Xylocopa pubescens has yellow hind head is a species more adapted to warmer climate and sometimes mistaken as a Bumble Bee because of the yellow patch
All Carpenter Bees are strong pollinators.
They pack their individual brood cells with pollen and nectar, then lay a single egg. Unlike Honey Bees, they do not concentrate nectar into honey at all.
This particular Carpenter Bee was so engrossed in her routine or was she so accustomed to an environment of non interference, that we spent so time together while I collect my pictures
This clump of plants with so much bloom will suffice her collection for the entire morning
To end this page, I have borrowed a picture from the internet. This is the "Small" Carpenter Bee, the sole lineage of the tribe Ceratinini. I am off to look for this one and the Bumble Bee for my next pages |
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With Will Will Wander |
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