I was at my black knight butterfly bush and there was what looked like a huge black bee with yellow fuzz on the.... ?thorax?.... and I thought it was nectaring but I looked closely and it was slitting open the throats of the flowers! What in the world could this have been? And is this why the flower cones go bad after a day?
What could it bee?? ID
Was it a monster like this girl. They rip up my passion flowers. They only last a day anyway(flowers). The guys are THE BEEANATOR, and THEY WILL BE BACK!
It did look like that one but I can't say I remember the monster being fuzzy except for the yellow part. And it didn't have a mouth like any bee I've seen, it had a long almost like a fly sucking beak thing... Gross
Like this?They all look shiny till you get close!
YES! That's it. Now what is "it"?
Carpenter Bee female (big black ones)
Ahhhh.... so that's it! But why do they have to shred the flower!? I don't think other bees do this, do they?
They rub the pollen off the flower and there is nector because the ants love them .
Do you know if these carpenter bees nest underground. I have had some black bees (not wasps) and they nest underground.
I think if they can't find a dead wood site they do. In the commercial growing fields(passiflora) they lay out old logs for them to burrow into. That way insuring that they will stay around the area for the pollenation of the plants.
Where do they grow passion fruit commercially? South America? I've never noticed in the stores.
Yes. Hawaii too.
Which species?
Edulis. If you are interested in Passifloras go to the book review section here and check out John Vanderplank's book on Passiflora. It is available including shipping for $26 from Amazon out the door.
Thanks!
Here's another one of your buddies.
I don't know the bee but, the flower looks like mine! Were you here this morning? Good shot. You captured that red/pink!
This guy says hello! From this morning.
Hello, Guy.
lol "hello Guy" that's funny