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NO NOT THE BEES NOT THE BEEEESSSSS

Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
Can anyone tell me what these are?

These were about the best pictures I could get with my phone. These 2 were in my kids' bathroom in a very agitated state. They were inside the window trying to get out. I have no clue how they got in as the window is closed and locked, but bees are wily. They have a lot of angry friends outside the window flying around, as well as some pissed off looking ants crawling around out there. I'm kinda scared to go out there right now. Wondering if these are honey bees and worth saving, or if they get the fire.

@Arch @BugBoy

Posts

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    I mean, all bees are friends so

    But those aren't honey bees. I can't really make it out, but they look like Andrenidae bees, or mining bees.

    Whereabouts do you live?

    Psycho Internet Hawk wrote: »
    Arch I like that no matter what game you're playing, your playstyle inevitably revolves around bugs and monsters and generally ugly things.
    | Zinnar on most things | Avatar by Blameless Cleric
  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    I mean, all bees are friends so

    But those aren't honey bees. I can't really make it out, but they look like Andrenidae bees, or mining bees.

    Whereabouts do you live?

    Central Texas

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    That makes it much more likely for them to be andrenids, then. Andrenids typically nest in the ground in rather arid locations. I mean, they aren't harmless because they are bees and do have stingers (as you can see in the picture) but they aren't typically super aggressive. I don't know what ants or whatever you have outside are, or what's going on with their "friends". Might just be that it's that time of year and everything is flying and mating, so you've probably got a mix of carpenter bees, andrenids, honey bees, wasps, and ants.

    Hard to say though.

    Psycho Internet Hawk wrote: »
    Arch I like that no matter what game you're playing, your playstyle inevitably revolves around bugs and monsters and generally ugly things.
    | Zinnar on most things | Avatar by Blameless Cleric
  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    I'm pretty sure this was a nest that was on the defensive. They all looked similar and were buzzing around (it's a small window and I could see probably 10 at any given time), knocking on the windows, and the ants were going nuts with their butts in the air.

    They seem to be settling down some, so I'll go out later today or tomorrow and see if I can see a nest. The main problem is that they're getting into the house by my kids bedrooms.

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Hmmm. If there was a nest of them, then they can't be andrenids, which are solitary. Maybe they are some sort of fuzzy paper wasp?

    It's tough- everything I know of that looks like the picture you posted is a solitary bee, so there being a ton of them doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm confused, and passed the picture on to one of my bee specialist friends.

    Psycho Internet Hawk wrote: »
    Arch I like that no matter what game you're playing, your playstyle inevitably revolves around bugs and monsters and generally ugly things.
    | Zinnar on most things | Avatar by Blameless Cleric
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor Registered User regular
    edited May 2017
    If they're ground nesting bees, maybe they kicked up a turf war with the ants? I'd imagine either tunneling into the other's nest would be cause for a dust up.

    That's without factoring in that they're also Texans, and therefore generally opposed to being messed with.

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    edited May 2017
    ArbitraryDescriptor wrote: »
    If they're ground nesting bees, maybe they kicked up a turf war with the ants? I'd imagine either tunneling into the other's nest would be cause for a dust up.

    That would make sense. They definitely seemed to be fighting the ants, and there were quite a few ants running around, more than you would normally just see. I checked the window again and saw a 3rd dead one, I guess from the residual wasp poison I sprayed inside.

    Sir Carcass on
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Hmm. My friend is insisting it is actually a honey bee, probably the subspecies Apis mellifera carnica, and while that does explain the behavior, I really disagree with her based on appearance.

    She's the expert, however, and I'm trusting her judgement, but just know that you caused two entomologists to bust out our taxonomy books and start working through the identification key through text message

    Psycho Internet Hawk wrote: »
    Arch I like that no matter what game you're playing, your playstyle inevitably revolves around bugs and monsters and generally ugly things.
    | Zinnar on most things | Avatar by Blameless Cleric
  • Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    Well, I do appreciate it. You folks are a treasure to this forum, for real.

    I went outside to try and see if I could find a hive or anything, but we have a large bush and tree right by that window, so it was hard to tell. I didn't want to get too close as there were still a couple buzzing around pretty loudly, and when I did get a little closer, I suddenly saw about 6 or so flying around the bush and decided it was time to go. I'll probably wait until tomorrow to see if they calm down. I may spray around that window from inside to deter them from coming in. I hope they don't have a hive inside our walls, but I think there are too many there to just be scouting. I think that's a fig tree, though, so who knows.

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