# Bee ID help



## Riverratbees

Looks like a wood boreing bee to me cause of the size of the head. They like nector and wood is their diet I have some in a hive on my porch don't seem to mess with the bees. Their clumbsy and fun to watch There bite hurts alot worse than a sting.


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## Ted adams

Riverratbees said:


> Looks like a wood boreing bee to me cause of the size of the head. They like nector and wood is their diet I have some in a hive on my porch don't seem to mess with the bees. Their clumbsy and fun to watch There bite hurts alot worse than a sting.


 They look like carpenter bee's, they can destroy wood, they love old barns, I kill all I can


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## mrqb

I'm with Ted ,carpenter Bee ,and they aren't just in Texas,but i wish they were,would save me a call every year about bees in a building that i don't want


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## rwurster

That's not a carpenter bee, its carrying pollen on its hind legs. Looks more like a bumble bee, like an impatiens.


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## mrqb

rwuster bumble bees have ylw on their abdomen,or atleast i always thought they were supposed to have yellow on their abdomen


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## Michael Bush

There are hundreds of kinds of bumble bees:
http://beespotter.mste.illinois.edu/topics/key/illinoisfieldguide.html
http://www.fegga.org/main/site_flash2/GetthebuzzofID.html
http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/bumblebees_id.htm
http://www.stlzoo.org/index.php/download_file/view/3036/1266/


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## mrqb

Michael Bush said:


> There are hundreds of kinds of bumble bees:
> http://beespotter.mste.illinois.edu/topics/key/illinoisfieldguide.html
> http://www.fegga.org/main/site_flash2/GetthebuzzofID.html
> http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/bumblebees_id.htm
> http://www.stlzoo.org/index.php/download_file/view/3036/1266/


Thanks mike the illinois site is very interesting,but beekgeek is in Texas do they have the same bees there and what kind of bee do you think is in beekgeeks photo,i still thank it is a carpenter bee but i owe rwuster an apology now i know all bumblebees don't have ylw on there abdomen.


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## bnm1000

RWuster

So, only the bumble bees have pollen baskets on their legs? I have a ton of Carpenter bees around my house (because they bore into the wood), but didn't think I had any bumble bees. But I do have some smaller bees that look almost identical that have pollen baskets. How do Carpenter bees carry pollen?

Thanks!


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## Ted adams

bnm1000 said:


> RWuster
> 
> So, only the bumble bees have pollen baskets on their legs? I have a ton of Carpenter bees around my house (because they bore into the wood), but didn't think I had any bumble bees. But I do have some smaller bees that look almost identical that have pollen baskets. How do Carpenter bees carry pollen?
> 
> Thanks!


I'm not sure about pollen, but bumble bees have almost a fur on them, Carpenter bees are slick on hind half of body all black' also a white spot on head, will not sting. Bumble bees have no white spot and do sting


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## rwurster

Yes I didn't mention that the bee in the pic had 'hair' on its abdomen also, that was the first thing that tipped me off along with the pollen baskets on its back legs. Carpenter bees carry their pollen on the underside of their bodies, and they can fly sideways or straight up or down as fast as they can fly forward (if you ever try to catch one lol). Anyway, if you get to see one you will see the yellow pollen on their underside or even covering their whole body which I think is pretty cool.

The carpenter bees around here carry pollen on their undersides anyway. Looks like other carpenters in other areas might have pollen baskets on their legs. Of course I can't find the link to the carpenter bees in my area. If I can get a good pic of one I'll post it.


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## BayHighlandBees

so I think the definitive test would be to slap the bee. if it stings you then you can relax that it isn't a carpenter bee :lpf:


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## JRG13

Carpenter bees here are all black, but color can vary. Pretty sure they can sting too, they were never happy to go into that killing jar when i was younger.


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## Gypsi

I live in Fort Worth. I had a bumble moth in my garden not too long ago. big, but not a bee. 
Type this in google, and you'll get a bunch of pics: bumblebee moth pictures


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## GlenB

First of all, nice photo. It seems like a bumblebee, and B impatiens seems probable, although I do not know Texas bees - we don't have it in western WA, (our narrow little niche) but B impatiens is a common eastern bbee. As best as I can tell, only a few bees, all highly social, have corbicula (pollen baskets); of the corbicula bearing bees, only honey bees and bumblebees are North American. 

As for i.d., here are two very good links. 
Bugguide is strong on photos and has many helpful members. Here is their bumblebee link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/3077
DiscoverLife is oriented to using a checklist sort of key, including winnowing it down by location and by as many features as you can observe. However, they also have an excellent photo library. Check out this photo of B impatiens by Sherry Pollock: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?...tiens,_Common_Eastern_Bumblebee,I_SOP2607.jpg.

By the way, while this pollen basket narrows down the i.d. on this bee to a female bumblebee, bees that lack a basket include male and parasitic bumblebees. (Male bees do not gather pollen except incidentally.)

Glen Buschmann
[email protected]
Bees, Birds, and Butterflies
www.olypollinator.blogspot.com



BeekGeek said:


> Can someone tell me what they think this species might be? I just noticed these in my garden for the first time today. They're a bit larger than a honeybee, but not as large as a typical bumble bee. Also, their flight is very similar to the orchid bee in that it tends to hover like a hummingbird and then dart away rapidly. I live in Dallas, Tx if that helps in narrowing down the species. Tried to upload the image directly, but it kept failing so here's a link to my imgur page: http://imgur.com/3zsZ3


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## ElBee

Howdy Folks,

The bee in the image is a female _Xylocopa_, a carpenter bee.

2 obvious characters are the scopa - pollen carrying apparatus on the hind legs, and the mouth parts.

Bumblebees do have corbicula which are a wide concave structure on the tibia rimmed with bristles. Comparatively, a scopa is a mass of bristles which can occur on the hind legs or on other parts of the body, such as the abdomen in leafcutter bees.

Many native species of bees have a scopa on the hind legs.

Hope this was helpful,

Cheers


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