This Side of Science

After consulting the Great Pollinator Project, I discovered that a behemoth bee I caught this summer is a Giant Resin Bee.  This species, native to Asia, first arrived in North Carolina and have since moved north as far as Canada, and as far west as Kansas.

Though they appear dangerous, they are actually rather docile bees, and the males do not even have stingers.  I found the nest they made in an abandoned carpenter bee holes above a window sill in the front of my neighbors building.  The bees are solitary, but will often nest near each other.