According to scientists the first insects that belong to the order Hymenoptera, still lived in the Jurassic period.In other words, they are no less than 150 million years of living on this planet.If we talk about bees, they were no more than 80 million years ago.They have evolved in parallel with the development of flowering plants, and now there are at least 20,000 species of bees.All these are divided into nine families.One of them - antoforidy, which include bees carpenters.Today, these insects are listed as endangered.
carpenter bee-violet (ksilokopa) - it can be said, a heavyweight, because it is larger than normal honey bee twice.And it is comparable to the buzzing swarms of beetles flight.It does not pay much attention to the people and, even if the encounter with the person will not release the sting, but quietly went on.Carpenter bee (photo insect can be seen above) has big black eyes and beautiful wings, shiny blue-purple sheen.
spring most of these insects can be found on acacia, fruit trees and blooming willow.In summer they prefer flowers and red clover.Bees collect pollen carpenters and transferred it to the hairs of their legs in the slot.Flight of the flight they are on the bottom of the cell stack, and his burden slightly moistened her nectar.Then there lay an egg on it and build the next bulkhead construction, so it turns to the bottom of the next cell.Thus, the female bee fills the slot, and then embeds the entry and leaving it forever.And the next year of his young bees fly-carpenters, flashing its blue-purple wings.
So why they are called carpenters?And it's pretty simple: these bees for their sockets using only wooden objects.The bee gnaws wood in long passages, which are used later as a nest.They like to dwell on the edges and clearings of old forests, like to nest in the wood warehouses and telegraph poles.Most often they can be found during the active summer from May to June.Bees carpenters are not true honey plants, but rather alone, they do not form a large family with cancer.
Violet carpenter bee their mating behavior something similar with some birds.Males choose the most sublime places and tirelessly patrolling, guarding their territory against other males.Females at this time, too, climb higher.They meet with males on the tops of hills, bushes or trees.For their nests ksilokopy prefer trees, whose wood is loose, especially they like elder and sumac.In addition, they can use their nests for human habitation.It may be beams, pillars, roof, fences (especially old and rotten).There have been many attempts to tame the bees to breed her as an ordinary bee-bee plant, but they all failed.
Habitat carpenter bees covering the Caucasus, Central Asia, Central and Western Europe, Middle East and Mongolia.In our country they live in the North Caucasus, in the south of the Stavropol and Krasnodar Krai, Tula, Leningrad, Pskov, Arkhangelsk and Moscow regions.They are also found in Tuva, Southern Urals and the Lower Volga region.
