Sunday, July 5, 2009

An Odd Bee

I found this odd bee on a cluster of sumac flowers. It’s the size of a large Bumble Bee, but the coloration and pattern are not what I’m used to seeing.

It could be a Large Carpenter Bee. I read what I had available on bee identification and found that a key characteristic is the pattern of wing veins and cells. The problem is that I didn’t capture the necessary features in the photo, so the bee goes unidentified.

Its behavior was also rather odd. It seemed to be clinging more with the mandibles than the legs. The body also seemed to be rather loose and emaciated, reminding me of a hornworm infested with parasites.

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