7 Eastern Carpenter Bee

Xylocopa virginica

Characteristics

Length: 0.75–0.90 in (19–23 mm).

Flight season: March–October.

Nectar sources: Many, including fruit trees.

Habitat: Woodland, farmland, gardens, parks.

North America’s most familiar carpenter bee is an important pollinator of fruit trees and other crops. It has a black head and abdomen with short yellow hairs on the thorax; the sexes look similar but males have a patch of yellow hair on their faces. The eastern carpenter bee is unusual in several respects. It is neither a solitary species nor is it truly social. Small clusters of nest holes are often found close to each other in wood. The female uses her strong jaws to dig a hole in which to lay her eggs, and sometimes one nest hole will branch into several different burrows, each housing a different female. Any dead wood will serve as a nest site but cut cedar and pine are popular, and sometimes these bees excavate in wooden buildings or furniture.

Although it is an important pollinator, visiting a wide variety of flowers, this bee is sometimes a “nectar robber,” using its maxillae to split open the corolla tube of a flower to reach its nectary—meaning it doesn’t brush past the flower’s stamens and pick up pollen.