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Carpenter Bees
  
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COMMON NAME: Carpenter Bees
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Xylocopa spp.
CLASS l ORDER I FAMILY: Insecta / Hymenoptera l Anthophoridae
METAMORPHOSIS: Complete
INTRODUCTION: Carpenter bees get their common name from their habit of boring into wood to make galleries for the rearing of their young. These bees have worldwide distribution with 7 species occurring here in the United States.
RECOGNITION: Adult body length is about 1/2-1"; they are robust in form, resembling bumble bees, but with the top surface of their abdomen mostly bare and shining. The hind tibiae have apical spurs. The front wing 2nd submarginal cell is triangular and the hind wing has a small jugal lobe (lobe on the rear margin near its body).
REPRESENTATIVE SPECIES: The carpenter bee, X. virginica (Linnaeus), is the most common eastern species and its range extends westward to Kansas and Texas. It is about 1" long and closely resembles the bumble bee except that the abdomen is black and shiny instead of at least partially covered with yellow hairs. The male has a yellow face, whereas, the female's is black.
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The California carpenter bee, X. californica Cresson, is found in the northern Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada of California and in Oregon's Cascade Mountains. This bee is 3/4-1" long and both sexes can be primarily metallic green or blue with grayish/dusky wings The male's pronotum has orange, yellow, or white hairs and its 1st abdominal segment has whitish hairs.
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The valley carpenter bee, X. vadpuncta Patton, is found generally in the valleys and lower foothills of California and Arizona. This species is about 3/4" long. The female is shiny black with brilliant metallic purple, brassy, or bronzy reflections, in stark contrast to the golden brown or buff color of the male. The female's wings are slightly smoky in color.
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The mountain carpenter bee, X. tabaniformis Smith, is found mostly in the foothills and mountains of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oregon. This bee is about 1/2-5/8" long and both sexes are black. The male's head has yellow and white hairs mixed with black hairs.
BIOLOGY: Carpenter bees are not social insects and do not live in nests or colonies. The adults over-winter, typically in abandoned nest tunnels. In the spring, the survivors emerge and feed on nectar. Then mating begins and extends into nest-construction time. The mated female may either reuse an old gallery, construct a new one by lengthening an old gallery, bore an entirely new one, or extend a gallery from a common entrance hole. The female typically bores a circular hole (same diameter as her body) straight into the wood across the wood grain for a distance equal to her body length. Then the gallery takes a right-angle turn, generally with the grain of the wood which is parallel to the outer longitudinal surface. New galleries average 4-6" in length but galleries developed or used by several bees may extend up to 10 feet.
The female provisions each gallery cell starting at the closed end of the gallery with a mass of pollen and regurgitated nectar on which she lays a single egg. This portion of the gallery is then sealed off with a chewed wood-pulp plug, making a chamber. This process is repeated until a linear series of 5-6 cells is completed. She can complete about 1 cell per day. Developmental time (egg to adult) for the carpenter bee (X. virginica) is about 35 days and for the mountain carpenter bee (X. tabaniformis), it is about 95 days.
HABITS: Females of the carpenter bee (X. virginica) will nest in a wide range of different woods, but prefer weathered and unpainted wood. Valley carpenter bees prefer partially decayed live oak and other hardwoods. The California carpenter bee nests in incense cedar and redwoods. The Mountain carpenter bee nests in structural timbers.
Male carpenter bees tend to be somewhat territorial and often become aggressive when humans approach, sometimes hovering a short distance in front of the face or buzzing one's head. Since males have no stinger, these actions are merely show. However, the female does have a potent sting yet she seldom uses it.
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