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Photo#211356
Maybe a hornet? - Megachile sculpturalis - female

Maybe a hornet? - Megachile sculpturalis - Female
Manhattan, New York County, New York, USA
August 7, 2008
Size: 1.5"
This insect visited me on my terrace. It wasn't at all aggressive and it also did not seem skiddish. I was thinking hornet. It has a huge set of mandibles I think, clear smokey wings, very large alien/teardrop shaped eyes, and several times it turned it's rear toward me and moved it in circles, kinda squirming. At one point I thought that it might have been molting or something because that is how the movement looked.

Images of this individual: tag all
Maybe a hornet? - Megachile sculpturalis - female Maybe a hornet - Megachile sculpturalis - female Maybe a hornet? - Megachile sculpturalis - female

Not a hornet
its a bee, possibly a giant resin bee ...


 
Thank you for the ID
It sure does appear to be the same as in your image. I appreciate the info.

 
Yes, female.
Nice shots, and of a female! Female specimens seem to be camera-shy, at least on this website:-) Nice work, thank you for sharing.

 
Thanks for the comments
So she's a girl, huh? The abdomen and the mandibles are the way to tell on this species, right? She certainly didn't mind hanging out with me on the terrace. She flew right up and landed a yard from me and stayed with me for quite some time. At first I was ready to run inside and stay, but instead I brought out the camera and in a few minutes she returned and was with me for awhile, and not at all aggressive - she seemed almost as if she were tame and accustomed to people. For about an hour, her movements reminded me of a happy puppy. She clearly knew that I was there. When I would go inside, she would leave and when I returned she would land again for another little photoshoot. She was quite interested in my mcdonald's iced tea cup, but not so much in the tea itself. When I was talking to her, she would wag her tail and turn around in a circle, stopping in the pose that you see where her body is curled. As a kid and a teen I collected insects and preserved them. I do prefer to take photos of them and let them continue on their way, but this one didn't seem to want to leave. Is it possible that they have these guys in captivity so that they become accustomed to humans? It looks scary, but she wasn't scary at all once she started acting like a pet. I've not seen her since. She flew away around dusk and she was so large that I could see her for a few blocks before she faded into the sky.

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