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Xylocopa viginica, f, side, Prince George's Co, MD

Detailed Description

The Virginia Carpenter bee. The bane of those who build with Cedar Siding, have redwood picnic tables, or who have barns made with softwoods. Other than the recently invaded Lithurgus chrysurus (we certainly will hear more about this wood eater in coming years), this is our only bee int he East that regularly makes holes in wooden structures. These then become family dwellings (do a google search) where there can be little family groups living inside year round. The essentially don't sting and real structural damage (rather than superficial) is rare, but if you want to control them the only way to do that is to plug their holes with water putty or caulk as soon as you find them, otherwise they will reuse and expand their cavities year after year. If you build with rough, soft woods outside you carpenter bees homes, so partially it is your own fault. Photo by Hannah Sutton. Bee from P.G. County, Maryland Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200. USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.