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Blue bee texas9/16/2023 ![]() ![]() When excavating a new nest, the foundress female carpenter bee will drill an entrance hole that is nearly perfectly round and is approximately ½ inch in diameter. These bees prefer to nest in weathered wood, such as siding of a building, fence posts, decks, and eaves. As a downside other bees will access the nectar through these openings and the flower will not get pollinated.Ĭarpenter bees are solitary insects, meaning that there is only one active bee per nest that is responsible for the variety of tasks needed to maintain the nest. Instead they cut an opening at the base of the flower to access the nectar, effectively becoming “nectar robbers”. Due to their large size, carpenter bees often cannot reach a flower’s nectar source. This behavior is often referred to as “buzz pollination”. Like bumblebees, they use sonication to vibrate and loosen the pollen from a flower’s anthers. However, you will most likely notice the larger carpenter bees.Ĭarpenter bees are generalists, meaning that they feed on, and therefore pollinate, a variety of plants and crops. You may even come across some species of carpenter bees that are smaller and have a shiny, metallic blue-black or green and purple coloration. ![]() On the other hand, their thorax is very hairy and can have yellow, orange, or white coloration depending on the species. One distinguishing characteristic is that carpenter bees have a shiny black abdomen that has few hairs. The project will also allow scientists to learn more about the bee’s nesting habits and preferences, none of which is currently known to scientists.Xylocopa micans (Photo credit: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab)Ĭarpenter bees are large pollinators (approximately ¾ to 1 inch in length) that are often mistaken for bumblebees and vice versa. Each female builds a nest, and does not care for its young. ![]() Part of the pair’s project, funded by a grant administered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, will help determine whether blue calaminthas qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act.Ī solitary native bee, the blue calamintha does not live in a large colony. “It puts into perspective how much habitat loss affects all the animals that live in this area.” “It’s one thing to read about habitat loss and development and another to be driving for 30-40 minutes through miles of orange groves just to get to a really small conservation site,” Kimmel said. The Florida Aquarium just made a breakthrough that will help save the third largest coral reef in the worldīlue calamintha bees are endemic to Florida, and have only been found in scrub habitat in the Lake Wales Ridge – one of the nation’s fastest-disappearing ecosystems. Kimmel and his adviser, Jaret Daniels, are currently working on a two-year research project to determine the blue calamintha bee’s current population and the species’ nesting and feeding habits. While finding a blue calamintha has reassured scientists that the bee is still present despite the impact humans have had on their environment, there is still little known about the species’ behavior, biology, and habitat needs. “In reading about this unique behavior we were pretty shocked to see it.”Īfter catching the bee in March, the researcher used macrophotography and checked in with lead authors who studied the species to confirm the insect was a blue calamintha. “We observed a shiny little blue bee grabbing the flower and rubbing its head on the top portion of the flower two or three times before moving on to another flower,” Kimmel told CNN. Kimmel spotted the bee, known for its unique way of collecting pollen, when he and a volunteer were installing a bee condo in the Lake Wales Ridge near some Ashe’s calamint – another threatened species that blue calaminthas depend on for food. The Ashe's calamint, the blue bee's primary floral host. ![]()
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