xylocopa violacea

We regularly see huge, iridescent blue, bee like insects flying about and were regaled with many stories about how they laid wood eating grubs in old Spanish buildings which then fell down. We were also warned of the dire consequences of upsetting these creatures as they would attack without provocation.

Exposure of an old beam in the garden suddenly brought several of these “bees” to our domain, which caused considerable consternation to one of our number resulting in mayhem and general panic.

Some considerable research on the internet identified our “assailants” as simple Carpenter Bees or Xylocopa Violacae. These huge lumbering creatures are somewhat misunderstood in that being up to 3 centimetres long does not help with accurate flying and a poor hovering technique could look like an attack to the unfortunate beneath the flight path. In addition, the female of the species is docile and would only sting “if confined in the hand”, not a likely occurrence for us as we tend to avoid unnecessary contact with any insect.

The male, reputedly the more aggressive, does not even have a sting so can only head-butt his victim into submission…..

These miscreants bore holes in wood at the rate of only 25 millimetres every 6 days and the grubs only eat nectar and spittle. Not the great consumers of lumber that we are told and a simple wood preserving treatment will discourage them from even starting their lunch.

So I apologise to the two gentle giants that I despatched with my fly swat, breaking it in the process and give thanks to the manufacturers of my wood worm treatment who seem to have produced a particularly distasteful solution to this problem.