![]() Newly hatched females often share the nest with their mother. She will stay with the nest until the brood hatches. Female bees will mix pollen and regurgitated nectar (“bee bread”) in the nest tube, lay one egg on it and then wall it in with a piece of chewed wood pulp they repeat this process until six to eight eggs are laid. They also use wood on houses that is not painted or varnished.Ĭarpenter bees can have horizontal or vertical nests, depending on the direction of the wood’s grain. Large carpenter bees chew nests in wood, and can use fence posts, stumps or dead tree branches. (That’s another good reason to leave taller wildflowers with hollow stems to overwinter in your garden, as well!) Adult females sometimes overwinter in hollow stems and continue to use the same stem as a nest. Small carpenter bees make their homes in stems of various dead plants. They may nest in the same area for generations. In the wild, the bees prefer nesting in conifers such as cypress, pine or juniper. In Florida, the bees are active most of the year and may nest in February and March and again in summer months. Xylocopa is greek for “woodworker,” referring to the bees’ ability to make its home in wood. Bee taxonomists distinguish each species by determining the distance between the eyes, the number of antenna segments, types of submarginal cells in wings, and abdomen and thorax color and pubescence.įlower preferences include many native shrubs but also wildflowers of Aster, Bidens, Hibiscus, Monarda, Solidago, Stachys, Teucrium and Vernonia species.Ĭlick here for photos and more information on how to identify large carpenter bees. Their color may be black, metallic blue, greenish black, or purplish blue and may also have slight yellow pubescence on the thorax, legs or abdomen. Photo by Mary Keim.īoth species are similar in size and are often mistaken for bumblebees. Xylocopa micans on Butterweed ( Packera glabella). The Southern carpenter bee ( Xylocopa micans) is found along the coast from southeastern Virginia to Florida, and west along the gulf to Texas.Xylocopa virginica krombeini is a Florida subspecies found from Sumter and Lake counties south to Dade County. The Eastern carpenter bee ( Xylocopa virginica) is found throughout Eastern US and North Florida.Photo courtesy of USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring LaboratoryĬlick here for photos and more information on how to identify small carpenter bees.Ĭeratina are parthenogenetic, which means the female can produce female eggs without mating or fertilization.įlorida also has two species (and one subspecies) of large carpenter bees: Host plants are many including those in the aster and mint families.Ĭeratina cockerelli. It is metallic blue and from 6 to 8 mm in size. Ceratina dupla floridanus is a subspecies of the species Ceratina dupla, found in the eastern United States.Flower preferences include oakleaf fleabane ( Erigeron quercifolius)and blue-eyed grass ( Sisyrinchium rosulatum). It is the smallest of the species in Florida (from 3 to 4.5 mm) and is mostly black. Ceratina cockerelli is found throughout Florida and the eastern United States.There are two species of small carpenter bees that live in Florida: Small carpenter bees ( Ceratina spp.) are less than 8 mm long, and large carpenter bees ( Xylocopa spp.) are 20 mm or larger. IDENTIFICATIONĬarpenter bees are categorized by their size. Subfamily: Xylocopinae FORAGING PREFERENCESĬarpenter bees are generalists, thus they frequent dozens of genera of Florida wildflowers, including Amorpha, Asclepias, Aster, Bidens, Coreopsis, Erigeron, Eupatorium, Euphorbia, Geranium, Helenium, Monarda, Penstemon, Polygala, Sebatia, Scutellaria, Sida, Silphium, Smilax, Solidago, Stachys, Teucrium, Tradescantia, Verbesina, and Vernonia. Both are telltale signs of carpenter bees. Or they might hear a buzzing sound coming from within the hole. They may notice a hole that appears to have been drilled into unpainted wood around their homes with a sawdust pile beneath it. ![]() Many Floridians become familiar with carpenter bees by accident. Pictured above: Eastern carpenter bee ( Xylocopa virginica) on Spotted beebalm ( Monarda punctata) by Mary Keim. “Know your native pollinators” is a series of articles that will help you identify and appreciate Florida’s varied pollinators, including bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, birds and bats. ![]()
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