Bug FAQSouthern Carpenter Bee
Xylocopa micans · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
It is a large, metallic black bee that lives in the southeastern US and feeds on nectar. Adults emerge in early April, live about a year, and overwinter in old nests.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The bee’s body is metallic black with blue or green reflections. Females have sparse dark hairs on the scutum and scutellum, while males have dense bright-yellow hairs there.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It measures 15 to 19 mm long and 8 to 9 mm wide.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
Unlike X. virginica, it does not bore into structural timber, so it is not a building pest.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It appears in warm months in places like the Lower Rio Grande Valley and is present year-round elsewhere. Its range includes the southeastern US coast from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults feed on nectar. Each brood cell is stocked with a pollen-nectar ball for the larvae.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Eggs develop to adults in about seven weeks. Both sexes overwinter as adults in old nests and live roughly one year.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults leave their nests in early April to mate. Males forage between noon and 4 PM during summer.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It differs from X. virginica by not damaging building timbers.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 16 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
When can I see them?
Adults emerge in early April and are active through the warm months.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylocopa_micans
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.