Unknown bee - Ask Extension
These bees are huge, like a queen bumble, but all black and shiny. Lots of them feeding on flowers in this garden. Located in Curtain, south of Cottag...
Knowledgebase
Unknown bee #809252
Asked September 02, 2022, 6:33 PM EDT
These bees are huge, like a queen bumble, but all black and shiny. Lots of them feeding on flowers in this garden. Located in Curtain, south of Cottage Grove. I can't find anything like it in my searches. Hoping it's not an imported invasive, as we raise honeybees!
Lane County Oregon
Expert Response
Hi Patty,
Well, its a close relative of honey bees, but if you look carefully, it lacks a corbicula, which honey bees and bumble bees share. What you have is one of two native carpenter bees in Oregon, and I suspect you have Xylocopa tabaniformis. As you might know about carpenter bees, they have sturdy mandibles and can tunnel into soft wood where they raise their young. This time of year females and males emerge and winter together as adults (unlike most of our solitary bees, who winter as prepupae). They can often be seen zipping around in the spring as males look for females (at break neck speed).
No threat at all to your honey bees, but a great reminder that Family Apidae is mighty and cool.
Well, its a close relative of honey bees, but if you look carefully, it lacks a corbicula, which honey bees and bumble bees share. What you have is one of two native carpenter bees in Oregon, and I suspect you have Xylocopa tabaniformis. As you might know about carpenter bees, they have sturdy mandibles and can tunnel into soft wood where they raise their young. This time of year females and males emerge and winter together as adults (unlike most of our solitary bees, who winter as prepupae). They can often be seen zipping around in the spring as males look for females (at break neck speed).
No threat at all to your honey bees, but a great reminder that Family Apidae is mighty and cool.
