Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica)

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Eastern carpenter bee

Xylocopa virginica

Bee

Large solitary bee that nests in dead wood (including, sometimes, deck timbers). Important pollinator for tubular flowers; occasionally engages in nectar-robbing on long-spurred flowers like wild columbine, slicing the spur from the side rather than entering the flower legitimately.

Plants in the catalog

Plants this species pollinates · 4

Butterfly weed

Asclepias tuberosa

Documented

Common milkweed

Asclepias syriaca

Documented

Maypop (purple passionflower)

Passiflora incarnata

Documented

The eastern carpenter bee is the primary pollinator of purple passionflower: the flower's anthers and stigmas sit on a raised central column at carpenter-bee height, so the bee transfers pollen as it forages. Other insects visit the nectar but contribute little pollination.

Pomegranate

Punica granatum

Documented

Large carpenter bees are principal pollinators of pomegranate flowers, working the showy orange-red blooms for nectar and pollen and improving fruit set over self-pollination alone.

Nectar plants · 1

Wild columbine

Aquilegia canadensis

Documented

Carpenter bees sometimes nectar-rob the long spurs by slicing the spur tip from the side, bypassing the flower mechanism without effecting pollination.

Range

Eastern United States, from New York and the Great Lakes south to Florida and Texas.

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