a rift

libutron:

Blue Carpenter Bee - Xylocopa caerulea

Undoubtedly the Blue Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa caerulea (Hymenoptera - Apidae) is one of the most striking among the carpenter bees. It is a large bee, close to an inch in length, with a hairy blue thorax, black abdomen, and long black eyes.

These Asian bees are non-aggressive. They nest in wood, and are semi-solitary, it is that they don’t have hives like honey bees do, but sometimes several queens will share a common entry hole to their nest. Since carpenter bees nest in dead wood, they sometimes do damage to the leaves of old houses, and can be pests. However, they are important pollinators of both native and agricultural plants, which more than makes up for the occasional damage they do to already-rotten wood. Being large and strong bees, the flowers pollinated by these bees may have an especially strong architecture.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©folicallychalled | Locality: Cimahi, Jawa Barat, Indonesia (2013)

(via moreanimalia)