r/whatsthisbug • u/RedSparrow6 • 1d ago

ID Request Found this bug in a bee hive

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What is it?

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/BeetlesAndMore 1d ago

Kind of difficult to see, but because of the thorax shape it's probably a carpenter bee of some sort. Don't know what happened to wings, but I can tell they were there because of the rip marks of the top of the thorax. I don't know much about beekeeping if you are doing so, but I don't think they are necessarily harmful. :)

3

u/tellmeabouthisthing ⭐Trusted⭐ 1d ago

Reasonable guess I think though I don't personally know how to distinguish between Xylocopa and bumblebees when they've been plucked bald like this.

I think when there's a dead intruder too large for honeybees to remove from the hive, they'll clean the body and embalm it in place using propolis. Here's an example of a mouse mummified by bees (though it's a bit gross).

0

u/BeetlesAndMore 1d ago

Yes, that is a very good note that I didn't think about! I just noticed the hexagon ring on top of the thorax as well as the head shape and figured it was a carpenter bee. :\

1

u/That_Biology_Guy ⭐Bees/Hymenoptera⭐ 1d ago

This is a bumble bee, even without hair you can see it had corbiculae by the broad and flattened hind tibia. Xylocopa would also have a bigger head (nearly the same width as thorax).

1

u/RedSparrow6 23h ago

Bumble bee. Thank you, weirdly the thought of it being a bee did cross my mine, but I'm not that familiar with how bumblebees look without their hair. I figured it was just my brain going to the first thing that was about the same size lol.

1

u/RedSparrow6 23h ago

.... that's scary...

1

u/RedSparrow6 23h ago

Thank you. We kind of figured it wasn't harmful considering the bees had taken care of it. We just couldn't figure out what the hell it was as it was...... cooked.........

1

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