Is it a big fly, a flying beetle, a bee with style, or a bee with a bruise? These may be the questions that come to mind if you see a large and shiny blue-and-black insect in your garden in France this summer.
In fact, this insect is the ‘Xylocopa violacea’ and known as the ‘abeille charpentière (carpenter bee or violet carpenter bee)’.
It is the largest type of bee seen in France, and can reach relatively-enormous sizes of 20-28mm across (in comparison to a ‘normal’ bee that is usually around 15mm maximum). Their wingspan can even measure up to 40mm.
It has a brilliant black body with shiny blue wings that can almost appear iridescent, and also emits a loud noise when it flies.
The bees are becoming more noticeable in France now, as they hibernate over the winter and only begin to emerge in late spring and early summer. Between May and June, the bee digs a hole in rotten wood, creating tunnels and ‘lodges’ in which it lays its eggs and stores food.
The carpenter bee: A quick guideActu.fr / Nicolas Moulin / Canva / Antoniya Kodiyska / Shutterstock
And while the bee can be “so imposing it can be frightening”, said insect expert Nicolas Moulin to Actu.fr, it actually poses very little threat to humans.
In contrast to honey bees, carpenter bees do not live in a hive colony, but instead are solitary. This means that they do not feel the need to defend a hive, and although they can sting, they very rarely attack.
Similarly, despite their ‘burrowing into wood’ behaviour, they also present a low risk to wooden structures and buildings (unlike termites, for example). This is because they “burrow into wood that is already damaged and soft”, rather than attacking otherwise-solid timber, said Mr Moulin.
