Found this guy dead outside my hive entrance last August. Huge in size, about 10X a honey bee. I would have guessed a bumble bee judging by size but that black body? Anyone know what this was?
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/hugeinsect1.jpg (http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/hugeinsect1.jpg)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/hugeinsect3.jpg (http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/hugeinsect3.jpg)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/hugeinsect2.jpg (http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/hugeinsect2.jpg)
Looks like a carpenter bee or a stripped down bumble bee.
My novice eyes see a bumble bee. I have seen dead bumbles around my hives before.
Carpenter bees looks like a large bumblebee but have shiny hairless abdomens. They're probably 8X the size of a honey bee.
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j365/MichiganBee/Bugs/Other%20Bees/CarpenterBeeOnSedum_zps0ba078d9.jpg)
Bumble bees have hairy abdomens and are nowhere near 10x the size of a honeybee unless it is a queen. You will see queen bumbles in the spring and they are big. After that you will see smaller worker bees. When the bumble bee season is over they will raise a bunch of queens that will go out and hibernate underground.
(http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j365/MichiganBee/Bumble%20Bees/BumbleBee1.jpg)
If a bumble were to try to get into a bee hive, the bees would rip it up, including tearing out its fur. My guess is you have a carpenter bee. They are very common.
Cool Pics BlueBee.
The size was in the range of bumblebee. I guess I have never seen one static and up close. They appear to be friendly and lumbering when alive. Seeing this dead one up close it looked pretty intimidating. Maybe it was trying to rob honey.
Thanks for your comments.
I definitely saw a few go into a hive or two of mine last year. I really never saw any aggressiveness from the honey bees toward them, though...might have been some, though, when I wasn't watching.
Ed
I find pieces of carpenter bees on the landing boards all the time.
Scott
I see them every fall in the hives. The bees pull all the hair off and the tergite underneath is black. It's a bumble bee.
Quote from: hardwood on March 05, 2013, 10:02:44 AM
I find pieces of carpenter bees on the landing boards all the time.
Scott
Hmm, I would have to say there's some aggressiveness involved there...
...or maybe they self-destructed getting to excited doing the harlem shake? :roll: :-D
Ed
Quote from: Michael Bush on March 05, 2013, 10:13:37 AM
I see them every fall in the hives. The bees pull all the hair off and the tergite underneath is black. It's a bumble bee.
Oh, that explains the shiney black appearance! Made it look like a trimmed down UFC bumblebee.
Looks like either a Mason or bumble bee. I find dead Masons around my hives regularly.
Joe
Quote from: fshrgy99 on March 05, 2013, 11:30:19 AM
Oh, that explains the shiney black appearance!
Not necessarily! Carpenter bees have naturally shiny abdomens. They naturally look like big shiny bumble bees. If the honey bees has stripped the fur off a bumble bee, why would they stop after just stripping the abdomen? I say it "was" a carpenter bee. :-D
Yes Blue, with your encouragement I've found this
Thanks!
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee23/fshrgy99/carpenterandbumblebee.jpg)
The ones I see are far larger than a carpenter bee. I think at the end of the season as the bumble bee nests run out of food (they don't stock it up for winter) they get desperate and die in an attempt to get food. But they would have died anyway shortly.
Hey guys,
That was cool. I never knew the difference between them.
Thanks for the show and tell pictures.
New Bee still learning. Don't think that will stop in the near future. :)
Thanks again
David
My opinion it is a female carpenter bee (males have a white square on their face and don't sting either). I agree with Bluebee that if the honeybees removed the hair, why only on the abdomen? Bombus impatiens is the most common bumblebee around here and they have a wide range of sizes. The male is about 2x the size of a honeybee drone and the female is 8-10x the size of a honey bee. It is quite common to find dead bumblebees in your hive. The new queens are reared in the fall and after mating look for a place to hibernate. Commonly in dry leaves, but just like you find them flying around looking for a nesting place in the spring to start a colony, you will find them hunting out a hibernation spot in the fall. Sometimes this will lead them into a beehive and either they get chased off or killed.