10 interesting facts about carpenter bees

Posted by Rakshanda Sukhani | Posted in , , , | Posted on 2:50 pm

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1. Part of the Xylocopa family, carpenter bees are solitary bees that tend to build their nests alone and go about their activities in the same manner that allows them to do things on their own.

2. These types of carpenter bee tunnels or galleries, as they are otherwise known, can vary in length from 6 inches to 2 feet and the female carpenter bees will often sue the tunnels to reproduce by laying an egg at the end of the tunnel and leave a provision of pollen of the young larva.

3. The female of the species will tend to be the ones who are found to be boring into wood and making the nests and they usually bore into any bare or untreated wood tat is available from roof hangings, to decks, to trees and other types of timber that has not been painted at all.

4. They only tend to do cosmetic damage and the type of holes they drill will not cause structural damage unless there are many carpenter bees nesting in the same area and are boring holes around each other. This is a useful thing to know if your are considering carpenter bees extermination

5. This can sometimes be a problem if the carpenter bees wish to return to the same area in which they were born or indeed were nested.

6. The cell of this tunnel will then be sealed off and the female carpenter bee will then continue this very process a few more times.

7. The larva that is closest to the entrance of the tunnel will tend to develop first of all and then the next larva will develop next and so it will continue.

8. There are some species of carpenter bee that will tend to be gregarious and will often nest near each other and it has indeed been noted that when the female carpenter bees reside together they will divide the labour between them.

9. One female will tend to spend most of her time as a guard in the nest standing motionless near the entrance and another female will spend most of her time foraging for provisions for the nest nearby.

10. The entrance to a carpenter bee hold is often a perfectly circular hole that measures about 16 millimetres.

 

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