The Metallic Carpenter Bee

Xylocopa (Lestis) bombylans

The Peacock Carpenter Bee has bright metallic colours that change with light! They are pretty easy to notice, despite their changing appearance, as they make a deep droning noise when flying from flower to flower. The female excavates a tunnel  inside of soft dead timber with her jaws and picks up and dumps the wood shavings outside, This is where they get their "Carpenter" name. Their hollows can reach up to 30 centimetres!

How do they pollinate?

The Metallic Carpenter Bee is one of Australia's buzz pollinators! These bees grab onto a flower and move their little flight muscles, causing the flower to vibrate. There are many plants that require this type of pollination and not as may bees that can provide this which makes these native bees so important!

Some fun facts

• Female Carpenter Bees have relatively little fur on their bodies which is a shiny metallic blue green colour. Whereas the males of these species have yellow fur on their thorax (in between the head and the abdomen), making them almost like a different species.

Bees Please MBD's second enamel pin launch features the Metallic Carpenter bee! Check it out here.

Thanks to @jeremycology for the awesome pic