A small buzzing insect called a bee is always associated with the sweet food they harvest. There are also bees that do not collect honey. This article deals with the kind of Xylocopa.

Features of the black bee

Xylocopa is a bee that grows much larger than the honeybee. She has a black body with blue wings. The insect settles in the wood of dry trees. If measures are not taken immediately, then in a year there will be a whole colony. In addition to old trees, the black bee can settle in wooden elements of buildings, where it begins to make a tunnel, gnawing it along the outer wall, at a distance of two or three centimeters from the edge. Moreover, the tunnel can be very long, at least thirty centimeters. Despite the fact that the insect is a bee, it does not produce wax or honey, but very badly spoils the wooden structures.

These bees are also called the carpenter, they belong to single insects, the same as the masons. This species has individuals: a male and a female. While honey bees have: a worker bee, a drone and a queen. Despite the fact that both types of insects are completely different and are in no way similar to each other, there is one common property between them - the male has no sting, therefore it does not sting.

Interesting. Considering the characteristics of carpenters, it should be noted that these individuals are not aggressive.

Male black bees do not have a sting and do not sting the enemy; in appearance they do not differ at all from females. Depending on the species (there are more than five hundred of them in the Xylocopa genus), the body can be up to three centimeters long. The abdomen of the insect has an unusual black color. In addition, there is absolutely no cannon on it.

There are some species that still have light brown, green, or yellow-green hairs. For his dwelling, the carpenter chooses soft wood, in which he makes only one tap hole, which goes into a tunnel. During the construction of the tunnel, insects do not eat fiber, they just saw wood, you can find the entrance by microscopic shavings and sawdust.

 

Black bee

Important! The black bee does not settle in such tree species as: birch, oak, beech and ash. In addition, if the tree grows and develops, then the bee will not settle in it. In this case, she chooses the wood of building materials.

Differences between a black and white bee and a honey bee

Carpenter bee

In appearance, the black and white bee resembles a bumblebee or even a fly, for this reason it is often mistaken for these insects. Compared to the melliferous, the carpenter builds for himself long passages with cells, which later very much resemble a multi-storey building. The carpenter then lays eggs in each of the cells.

You can see the "apartments" of this insect in the elements of human habitation:

  • in fences;
  • in beams;
  • in the roof;
  • in the pillars.

Bees feed on nectar mostly from flowers of fruit trees, acacia, willow, as well as clover and other wildflowers.

Insects reproduce as follows. During the mating season, males rise to great heights to protect their territory from invasion. Females fly to the same height, only in this way they have a chance to meet a male.

The carpenter also collects pollen from flowers, while not converting it into honey, but putting it in a cell and mixing it with nectar. An egg is laid on this mixture. After that, a partition is made, which serves as a ceiling for the first apartment, and a floor for the other.Thus, the insect fills the entire bee tunnel with eggs and completely seals the entrance. The female flies away from her nest forever. Young carpenters leave their apartments only the next year and also scatter in different directions.

There are many varieties of the black bee. The black and white species lives in Mexico and the United States of America. Individuals of this species are black in color, only they have a white spot on their heads, the whole body is covered with gray hairs.

The males of this type of bees are very aggressive, they can bite painfully both an animal and a person. The carpenter leaves for nectar at any time of the day: early morning and late evening. Best of all, they perceive the flowers of honeysuckle. The honey is sealed with a white seal.

The carpenter, who lives in Germany, is immune and practically does not get sick.

The most dangerous insect is the black bee, which lives in Africa. These individuals punish their offenders with honey, smearing them from head to toe. Most often, the insect can be found in Algeria or Tunisia. Bees live in nests, where they are located in the form of a bunch.

Is a bee with a black belly useful?

Central Russian bee

At first glance, it may seem that a bee with a black belly does not do any good at all, only damages things made of dry wood. In fact, they really don't do any good to humans and animals. Most of the species simply leave their clutch of eggs to fend for themselves. This behavior is typical of those individuals who settle in bushes.

 

Insects settle only in rotten wood

It should be noted! Insects colonize only rotten wood that has become unusable. In addition, the carpenter has the ability to effectively pollinate plants.

If we compare them with ordinary bees or bumblebees, then the indicators will be as follows:

  1. One black bee of the species Lignaria can pollinate exactly as many trees in one day as pollinates two hundred and fifty honey bees during the same time.
  2. If a comparison is made with bumblebees, then these insects, in comparison with one black bee, need to take a dozen individuals.

Black bee in a hive

What a bee looks like

Many beekeepers have tried to tame the black bee and put it in the hive, but they have not succeeded at all. Wild individuals remained wild. Although beekeepers do not lose hope of breeding these insects, as they believe that this species will be very valuable in beekeeping.

There are no unnecessary insects in nature. They all bring some kind of benefit in their lives. The black bee pollinates a large number of flowers in its life, much more than a small honey bee.