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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps » Apoid Wasps (Apoidea)- traditional Sphecidae » Crabronidae » Bembicinae » Sand Wasps (Bembicini) » Bembicina
Photo#297878
Large, angry bee... - male
Copyright © 2009 Natalie McNear

Large, angry bee... - Male
Marin County, California, USA
July 2, 2009
Size: 2.5 cm body length
I found this bee feeding on a lavender plant and didn't recognize it, so I captured it in a platic container and got some photos... The bee was angry and kept moving around the container, so that's why the photo quality is less than stellar. When I captured it there was also another one feeding on the same plant that look the same but larger and a bit fatter - I thought maybe the one I caught was a male and the other was a female, but in one of my photos I can see the ovipositor/stinger. The bee was released unharmed near the plant on which I caught it, where it continued feeding (the other one was still there too).

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Large, angry bee... - male Large, angry bee... Large, angry bee... Large, angry bee... - male
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Contributed by Natalie McNear on 2 July, 2009 - 4:55pm
Last updated 21 November, 2009 - 10:23am

Moved
Moved from Sand Wasps.
… John S. Ascher, 21 November, 2009 - 10:23am login or register to post comments

Fooled ...
The one with the "stinger" is actually a male (count the number of abdominal segments: 7 vs. 6 in females). What protrudes from the tip of the abdomen is the tip of one of the sterna. A stinger would be much thinner with a very fine tip. Males of several bembicine genera (as well as some pemphredonines) have such a "pseudostinger". When I started working on wasps I got fooled at first, too...
… Matthias Buck, 4 July, 2009 - 7:09pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks for the info!
… Natalie McNear, 5 July, 2009 - 2:18pm login or register to post comments

Re: Sand Wasp
Is it common for them to be found far from sand or loose soil? Unless someone who lives around here has a child's sandbox or is doing construction, I don't know what a sand-dwelling insect would be doing around here.
… Natalie McNear, 2 July, 2009 - 11:25pm login or register to post comments

Sand wasp.
Very likely a species of Steniolia.
… Eric R. Eaton, 2 July, 2009 - 10:23pm login or register to post comments

Bembicini
-
… John S. Ascher, 2 July, 2009 - 7:12pm login or register to post comments

Looks like
maybe a bembix of some type.
… Jon M. Yuschock, 2 July, 2009 - 5:53pm login or register to post comments

 
Re: Looks like
Interesting, so this is actually a wasp? I made a thread in the forums about it before I caught it and initially thought it was a wasp, but then once I got photos and saw the mouthparts I thought it was a bee.
… Natalie McNear, 2 July, 2009 - 6:38pm login or register to post comments

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