Bumble Bee Question

[Wolfguard]

Hello everyone. I was refered to this site by a kindly poster on another board I frequent in the hopes that perhaps the beekeepers here can help me identify a flying tank of a bee my Corgi happened upon on Thurday morning.

It was the size of a Carpinter Bee.
It was a light brown color, like a "blond" Carpinter Bee.
Small madnibles (left me with the impression it was NOT a heavy chewer.
The face was mustard yellow with green eyes and the limbs were a redish brown.
Fairly small head for it's size.
Probosis like a Honey Bee.
Strong scent of pollen.
Did not appear to have a stinger. Instead, there were two prong-like barbs - one each on the left and right under a flap on the tip of the underside of the abdomen. I removed this section from the body and there were two long (in proportion to it's size) cylindar shaped glossy, tube-like "things" attached to it.


I've never seen a bee like this before, but it was HUGE - like a honey bee on steroids. Anybody know what species this was?

[sqkcrk]

Do you folks have a County Extension Entomologist avaiable? If so, their job is to identify such critters as the one that you describe. What you say, they don't work on the weekends? smile.gif

[BjornBee]

Save it in the isopropyl alchohol and see if a entomologist at one of the universities wants to try. The world of solitary bees does not have many well educated people. There are over 3500 different solitary bees in N. America. Some are only found only in very particular areas. Some can only be found in one small area in terms of a few miles.

There are not many experts, and this is an area that has not been studied intensively. Much is being studied and discovered every year.

Could be a new species....Apiswolfgaurdcali.

[Kieck]

Are you sure it's a bee? Does it have two pairs of wings, or only a single pair of wings?

If you're interested, PM me -- I have a fair amount of experience providing identifications of insects, and might be able to give you a better idea of what it is if you could send me the specimen. If it is a bee, and I'm not able to identify it to species, I know personally several of the experts in identifying/naming/classifying bees and I'll forward it to them.