I found two HUGE bees in the past week near my house in central NJ. One was dead on my deck and one was alive on my screen door this evening. They are seriously the largest bees I have EVER seen...about the size of a large cicada. They have fuzzy upper bodies and yellow and black striped lower bodies. I looked at pictures of carpenter bees and they don't really look the same. Anyone know what kind they might be?
2007-10-23 12:37:52 · 6 answers · asked by Amy R 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The striped lower body is shiny, not fuzzy.
2007-10-23 13:39:14 · update #1
Well, what pops into my mind, is that this may be a Cicada Killer, which is a very large wasp. They actually do feed on Cicadas. They are very large, getting up to 2 inches or so.
The North American species is Sphecius speciosus, which is one of the members of the family, Crabronidae. This is most likely what you saw.
I am including a couple of links.
2007-10-23 13:52:31 · answer #1 · answered by madcat 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, this is a old post, but I live in central NJ, it's night and I have a dozen of these thing flying around my porch lights. They are not Cicada Killer, There giant bees
2014-08-17 15:04:13 · answer #2 · answered by Richard 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These are Giant Resin Bees. They are in my vitex trees and I can touch and pet them. They are docile and buzz around with the much smaller bumblebees that I do NOT touch. Saundra in Louisiana.
2015-09-29 16:27:55 · answer #3 · answered by Sissy 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The same kind of bee popped up on my pool to get a drink one day when we were swimming and we couldnt figure it out either! Weird!!
2007-10-23 12:45:30 · answer #4 · answered by Guido~CdubZ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Madcat is probably correct, but he did not name it. Its a wasp not a bee. A carpenter bee is a bee, and around here is all blueish/black.
2007-10-23 16:05:17 · answer #5 · answered by paul 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its a bee!
2007-10-23 12:40:31 · answer #6 · answered by Jafy F 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋