Monday 3 January 2011

Bee identification

Anyone got any idea what species of bee this is? I know it's a solitary carpenter bee, but not sure exactly what species/sub species




















5 comments:

  1. Cant say which bee that is,
    but love your blog and thought you might enjoy my machinima film on bees and permaculture
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsVL22dIdKw
    bright blessings
    elf ~

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  2. Your film is absolutely enchanting Celestial Elf! I've just watched it through three times and I picked up something deeper each time. Thank you for the link.

    Have you read 'The Life of the Bee' - written in 1901 by Maurice Maeterlink? He was a Belgian philosopher, poet and beekeeper and writes about the spirit of the hive. It's a very special book

    Or 'The Shamanic Way of the Bee' by Simon Buxton?

    I'm giving fb and twitter a rest for a few days but will share your beautiful video when I next post.

    Love and light,
    B x

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  3. Well I'm no good at this, but Mark from Tatnam Organic Patch is a rather good Entomologist, so I sent it to him. And his reply as follows;

    Hi Andy,
    it sure is a conundrum, I am no expert on bees and despite spending sometime looking through the site BWARS I was unable to find a decent match. Details are a bit vague and it may be old and possibly losing hairs (going bald !?) and thus appears shiny and very dark, none of this is helping with identification. i will attempt to send website details so you can try if you like, but it's a toughie ! It may open if you click on it with internet connected. It's the Bees, Wasp and Ant Recording Society.
    regards Mark

    http://www.bwars.com/Gallery.htm

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  4. Hi,
    Two years late I'm afraid. This looks like a very worn and hairless female Anthophora furcata, particularly as I see a hint of an orange-ginger tipped abdomen. More here: http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=bee/apidae/anthophora-furcata

    Nigel Jones
    BWARS website manager

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    Replies
    1. Wow....I am SO happy to have this ID! I had wondered recently if it might be Anthophora sp because of it's round abdomen but was stumped beyond that because of its lack of hair and the fact that it was nesting in rotten wood. You have made my day/year Nigel. Thank you.

      Interestingly I have just come back from doing a talk about bees and finished up (as I often do) by telling the audience to check out the BWARS site for help in identifying solitary bees. I'm so please that your team have created such an invaluable resource.

      Many thanks for taking the trouble to solve my two year mystery. In case you are interested this bee was nesting on a river boat on the river severn just outside Worcester.

      Brigit

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