Philologists (those who study b’s) would go bonkers without the letter b: no more begat, begin, beguine or buckminsterfullerene. Melittologists (those who study bees) would be equally upset because there would be no bees (OK, the insect would still exist but it’d be called an ee and then philologists would have to redefine the word eerie as a place where ees live instead of a hive, etc.).
While honeybees (Apis mellifera) have been active in the valley for some time now, different bees are now buzzing about as plants other than trees are in bloom. Among those insects are cuckoo bees, squash bees, digger bees, habropoda bees, mining bees, bumble bees, sunflower bees, long-horned bees, small carpenter bees and the largest member of the family Apidae native to California the large carpenter bee.
Large carpenter bees (Xylocopa tabaniformis and X. californica) are but two of the 32 species of carpenter bees common to North America and of the three native to California. They are the largest bees in the state and easy to identify because they are the biggest flying thing that’s not a bird seeking nectar from flowering plants.
Female carpenter bees are black with dark wings and a somewhat hairy thorax. Males are frequently dark gold in color with iridescent green eyes and are territorial. They will often defend a nesting area by flying side to side across its boundary and will sometimes buzz close to a human intruder.
Although often misidentified as some sort of bumble bee, the large carpenter bee can grow to more than 1.2 inches long whereas the largest bumble bee native to the state is less than an inch in length. Also setting it apart is the fact that none of the 26 species of bumble bees in California are all black in color.
Unlike honeybees, large carpenter bees carry dry pollen that has been pressed into a patchwork of hair on their legs known as scopia. Honeybees have a basket-like cavity on their legs called a corbicula where moistened pollen is stored until the bee returns to its hive.
Large carpenter bees visit a variety of flowers in search of nectar but prefer bigger blooms. They pollinate several species of plants but they don’t pollinate all plants they visit because they are known to “steal” nectar without transferring pollen from one flower to the next.
Large carpenter bees commit their larceny by cutting holes in the side of a trumpet- or bell-shaped flower near its base and drinking the nectar through the hole. The bee never makes contact with the reproductive parts of the flower, so no pollination takes place.
Carpenter bees make solitary nests although sometimes a pair of related females may share a nest. The bee uses its large, sharp mandibles to chew into live or dead wood to create a nest cavity. Those cavities are sometimes created in wooden decks or the sides of buildings.
There are 13 species of small carpenter bees in California which grow no larger than six-tenths of an inch in length. They are dark black, blue or green in color and generally nest in the pithy centers of dead stems.
A gift for the observing public is that large carpenter bees are generally docile. They rarely ever sting unless threatened, for example, by someone trying to grab one to scope in on its scopia.
The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, Merced National Wildlife Refuge and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge comprise the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Its headquarters and visitor center are located just north of Los Banos off Highway 165 at 7376 South Wolfsen Road. The refuges are open to visitors daily from one half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset. The visitor center is open Monday through Friday except federal holidays from 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
