Black bee

I couldn't find a match for this bee. Any help is welcome.
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comments (3)

morpheme

Lion

Carpenter bee or giant resin bee? The giant resin bee looks like a good match, but it would be an exotic in Europe http://www.aaes.auburn.edu/comm/pubs/highlightsonline/fall00/bee.html Carpenter bees will take more work - 500 species! Posted 10 years ago, modified 10 years ago
1. WildFlower
  
  Lion
  
  Megachile sculpturalis doesn't look like a good match to me - it's not that big, not that hairy and the wings are not dark. I was looking at the carpenter bees too but they tend to be bigger. This one is about the size of a honey bee if not smaller. I checked some mining bees (Andrenidae) in a French site. They are smaller, but I couldn't find a good match.
  http://galerie-insecte.org/galerie/Fam_Andrenidae_01.html Posted 10 years ago

morpheme

Lion

Ah - hard to tell scale in the photo - I had the impression it was bumblebee sized. Have you tried leaf cutter bees yet or mason bees? Leaf cutters look like they may have too many segments on their abdomen, but mason bees may not. Is the back end a bit red? Looks a little less hairy, but maybe a male Osmia rufa? or other Osmia species. Posted 10 years ago, modified 10 years ago