The most common carpenter wasp is actually a bee. The carpenter bee can be found world wide with around 500 species, each building their nest in dead wood of some kind such as timber that is structural to bamboo.
Many carpenter bees are solitary with few working alongside each other creating a larger nest. It has been observed that when two female carpenter bees cooperate, often one will stay guard just inside the nest doing very little while the other does most of the work such as gathering food. The nest will have one entrance with tunnels leading to other cells. Wood fibres are also used in construction to build partitions or discarded as they do not eat wood. The entrance to the nest is a perfect 16 millimetre circular hole normally on the underside of a piece of wood.
The carpenter bee is very important as they help pollinate many open faced flowers. Carpenter bees have a shiny abdomen when compared to a bumblebee who has very similar colouring while its abdomen is covered in thick hair.
Male carpenter bees can be distinguished by having white or yellow faces. The male carpenter bee is rather harmless as he dose not have a stinger unlike the female. The female carpenter bee does have a stinger but at the same time, they are very docile and will only sting if they feel very threatened such as being caught in someone's hands.
Did You Know?
Different Types of Wasps - Hornets
Wasps - Hornets