Collier County’s Commercial Landscape Horticulture Agent really bugs me - and a lot of other folks across Southern Florida.  Dr. Doug Caldwell is an expert on urban entomology, and asked me if I have been dive-bombed by large bees recently.

I suggested that an article about the Large Carpenter Bees would be in order.   Because these featured creatures can be found throughout Florida, it may be useful to get to know how they are different from their Northern cousins, which are much more of a problem.  Hope you enjoy reading Doug’s column.

As I was walking past my out-of-control, ten-foot tall Allamanda ‘Cherries Jubliee’ shrub, a bumble bee like creature got my attention. Flying a few feet above my head, he zoomed and darted intimidatingly. Carpenter bees …males…. with flying skills that reminded me of one of those X-wing fighter planes, piloted by a Star Wars Jedi pilot. Will it fire miniature, long-range laser cannons or use its proton torpedo launchers to zap me? Will other “fighter planes” join in to investigate the intruder.  But, in fact, if one watches closely, these yellow-fuzzed face insects are also chasing one another. It turns out that they are territorial and protecting their particular section of the hedge from competing males.  

A male Large carpenter Bee, Xylocopa micans, zooms in to defend its territory, but will not sting.  Photo by Doug Caldwell, UF/IFAS Collier County Extension Service.	This is a top view of a Southern Large Carpenter Bee.  Photo: Paul Choate, UF/IFAS
Southern Carpenter Bees will nest in twigs, not in the wood found in buildings. Photo FDACS/DPI

According to the University of Florida Featured Creatures article, Large Carpenter Bees resemble bumble bees in shape and size and somewhat in color, being black, metallic bluish or greenish black, or purplish blue. Males have yellowish areas on the face. Both sexes may have pale or yellowish fuzz on the thorax, legs, or abdomen, but these hairs are not as abundant nor as intensely colored as with bumble bees. Large carpenter bees are readily distinguished from bumble bees primarily by the absence of fuzz on the topside of the abdomen, which makes it appear somewhat shiny.

The species buzzing me goes by the name Xylocopa micans. Little is known about its biology. Fortunately, it does not attack soffit areas or untreated cedar or pine boards on homes. A northern species has this reputation of causing structural damage to homes. The females of this pest tunnel into sound wood to make “nests” or brood galleries with the precision of a 10/16 inch drill bit.

Fortunately, my carpenter bee species prefers to drill into shrub or tree branches to construct their brood galleries.  There are reports of nests inside dead Ligustrum (Japanese privet) and red maple branches. These nest entrances were about three feet above the ground, but entrances in other twigs were as low as six inches. The precisely drilled entrance hole is about 1/3 inch in diameter.

So why are these buzzers around my Alamanda? They are most likely using dead canes or branches of the Alamanda or the nearby Viburnum as a home for the next generation of “X-wing fighter” carpenter bees.

If annoyance problems arise from the activity of these pollen feeders, a small amount of insecticide can be used.  Be sure that is labeled for bees and wasps:  this can be a dust, wettable powder or aerosol. The labeled pesticide should be inserted directly into the nesting holes.

But, good luck, I could not find the entrance holes. But then again, being from Ohio , instead of looking low, I was looking at the soffit area and higher up on the shrub branches, so I might have missed them. Since these bees are not known to sting, I am leaving them alone and admiring their acrobatic aerial flight displays as they defend their homeland.

Doug Caldwell, Ph.D., is the commercial landscape horticulture Extension agent and landscape entomologist with the University of Florida Collier County Extension Service. He can be reached at (239) 353-4244 x203.  I’ve placed more information on our Okeechobee web page, http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu.  If you need additional information on carpenter bees, please email us at okeechobee@ifas.ufl.edu or call us at 863-763-6469.  Local residents can stop by our office at 458 Hwy 98 North in Okeechobee, and visit our Okeechobee County Master Gardeners from 1 to 3 PM on Tuesday afternoons.  

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Trade names, where used, are given for the purpose of providing specific information. They do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of products named, nor does it imply criticism of products not named. The Florida Cooperative Extension Service - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap, or national origin.  Florida Cooperative Extension Service / IFAS / University of Florida.  Larry A.  Arrington, Dean Last update: 10/06/2006 .  This page is maintained by Dan Culbert 

references

Grissell,E.E.,   Sanford, M. T.,  and Fasulo, T. R.  Large Carpenter Bees (EENY-100). Gainesville: UF/IFAS Extension Service, July 1999.  (Featured Creatures article.) Originally FDACS/DPI Entomology Circular No. 160). http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/bees/xylocopa.htm and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN257 

ibid.  Small Carpenter Bees (EENY-101). Gainesville: UF/IFAS Extension Service, July 1999. (Featured Creatures article.) Originally FDACS/DPI Entomology Circular No. 167). http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/bees/ceratina.htm 

Koehler,  P. G. and Oi, F. M. Powderpost Beetles and Other Wood-Infesting Insects. (ENY-266) Gainesville: UF/IFAS Extension service, 1/03.  http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IG119#SECTION_6 

Spenkle, Richard. Key Problems for May/June— Carpenter Bees.  Jacksonville: Duval County Extension newsletter,  A New Leaf, Vol. 4, No. 3 p. 2 of 6.  http://duval.ifas.ufl.edu/Agriculture/HOHorticulture/A%20New%20Leaf/June%2003.pdf

Williams, Larry. Carpenter Bees Create Unwanted Holes in Homes. Tallahassee: UF/IFAS Leon County Extension Service, 3/17/04. http://leon.ifas.ufl.edu/carpenter_bees_2004.htm  Includes a good comparison photo between Carpenter and Bumble bees!

More photos of the Large Carpenter Bee can be found at http://pick5.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Xylocopa+micans