280 days of Urbpandemonium #36

[urbpan]

It's like a magic trick. I'm handling a bee without being stung! I'm some kind of insect wizard!


Except that when you see the white square on its face you know we're looking at a male eastern carpenter bee Xylocopa virginica. Since stingers are adapted from the female's egg-depositing organ, males can not sting. The way that the males defend territory, by flying into the face of any intruder, is convincing enough for many humans to leave them alone.

Comments

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

"I'm handling a bee without being stung!"
My first thought: Is that because it's dead?

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

Aha! That explains the huge bee that always hovered in the air in front of our faces and stared us down when I lived in Roslindale.

[buboniclou.livejournal.com]

My parents' house has those. Is the square only on males then? And do the females fly around as well? They do get pretty aggressive.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yes only the males have the squares on their face. Females fly around too, but are much less aggressive.

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

Ha ha; I handle bees all the time. When you fish them out of a swimming pool they are too busy trying to dry off to sting you.