han the females, which relates to their mating behavior. Male bees are often seen hovering near nests, and will approach nearby animals. However, males are harmless since they do not have a stinger. Female carpenter bees are capable of stinging, but they are docile and rarely sting unless caught in the hand or otherwise directly provoked.
Many Old World carpenter bees have a special pouch-like structure on the inside of their thorax called the acarinarium where certain species of mites (Dinogamasus spp.) reside. The exact nature of the relationship is not fully understood, though in other bees that carry mites where the mites are beneficial, feeding either on fungi in the nest, or on other, harmful mites.
Carpenter bees are traditionally considered solitary bees, though some species have simple social nests in which mothers and daughters may cohabit. However, even solitary species tend to be gregarious. There are two very different mating systems that appear to be common in carpenter bees, and often this can be determined simply by examining specimens of the males of any given species. Species in which the males have large eyes are characterized by a mating system where the males either search for females by patrolling, or by hovering and waiting for passing females, whom they then pursue. In the other type of mating system, the males often have very small heads, but there is a large, hypertrophied glandular reservoir in the mesosoma, which releases pheromones into the airstream behind the male while it flies or hovers. The pheromone advertises the presence of the male to females.[
These bees come in a variety of sizes although most are slightly larger than a honey bee. One of the most common species is the valley carpenter bee that is characterized by solid black females and golden males. They are as large as or larger than bumblebees.
Female and Male Valley Carpenter Bees.
As previous indicated these bees nest in wood. Their colonies consist of a series of tunnel-shaped burrows. As do other bees, carpenter bees