It (or they) has made holes in the beams of my chicken coop. The last (sorry, blurry) photo shows it taking a piece of hay into one of the holes.
Anyone Know What This One Is?
Dale? Are you around?
Because it bores into wood, I think it has to be some type of carpenter bee. When I googled blue black bee, I got references to mud wasps and carpenter bees. It looks similar to a Scolid wasp with blue wings but I could find nothing about Scolid wasps drilling holes into wood.
This message was edited Aug 20, 2012 10:21 PM
Does this look like your wasp?
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/Insects/Organ%2520Pipe%2520Mud%2520Dauber/dscn4766pipeorganwasp1ajrt.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/organ-pipe_mud_dauber.htm&h=362&w=600&sz=250&tbnid=vsD88ntpaDlQYM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=124&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddirt%2Bdobber%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=dirt+dobber&usg=__7635rg0SdbAEdDk5_vjZzQ_eBkI=&docid=6E-mfzLCd7kKSM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9QQzUJmfMoWB7AG-p4HIDQ&ved=0CFEQ9QEwBQ&dur=541
Perhaps the carpenter bees made the holes and these guys are opportunists by using them.
I think poster is on the right track. I'm way out of my realm here, but the solitary wasps in the genus Isodontia often use abandoned carpenter bee holes as their nesting sites and they bring pieces of dried grasses to the nesting sites. My guess is Isodontia philadelphica. Here's a link:http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Isodontia+philadelphica
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
That's it! I think you're right about the Carpenter Bee making the original holes, too. I had a lot of them around this year. Thank you all!!