Thread: What is this wood boring insect?

Saw the occupant fly (rapidly)into the hole at yesterday's inspection - it looked like a small bee, about the size of a "BB"

First time I've ever seen this.

What am I seeing?

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Michael,

From the appearance of the frass, it looks like it was created by carpenter ants or carpenter bees. Have anymore photos?

Carpenter bees I have seen are much bigger than a "BB", they usually work in higher areas and they never seem to make a mess. My observations over the years.
I am wondering if this really is a wood destroying insect, or just an insect that has discovered a very deteriorated wall cavity to have as a home. I am basing that on the condition of the debris. Looks to be wet and scraped out, not so much chewed.
Any sort of access on the interior side?

I suppose you would put in your report what you saw, then suggest a treatment to kill what is there. Then to have either a scope placed in that opening, or cut open a section to see how bad the damage is.

Possible a Mason Bee.

I was thinking that it might also be what is called a "Hornfaced Bee". A friend of ours has a small apple orchard and he brought in this bee to help pollinate the trees last year and this year. Seems the local honey bees were not doing the job well.
Hornfaced bees

I'll go with carpenter ants.

Could be a saber-tooth crotch cricket.

Looks like wetted older emergence deathwatch beetle frass to me, strong fliers, reproductive adults would still be out, attracted to light, size right, adult females after mating often return to emergance point to lay eggs, but not often mistaken for bees.

Scale would be helpful (the old retractable ball point pen tip or pencil tip near the opening works great, FYI, in insect damage/evidence photos).

I may bee opinionated but I bee-lieve its from Bees.

Kidding aside I've seen similiar holes made by bees.

Bee that as it may ...

To bee or not to bee, that is the question.

Hard to see from the photo but is there any insect parts in the frass? If so than most likely it is carpenter ant. Carpenter bees are fairly solitary and don't really do a lot of damage.

Also is this are being hit by spinklers or being rained on, does look wet.

Most beetle frass is much more powdery so I think I would rule that out, this frass seem much more coarse.

I am leaning towards ants.

Carpenter bees nest in tunnels in sound wood of dead trees and in structural timbers. They use both soft and hard woods, but they seem to prefer pines. Carpenter bees can get into very small areas, and will seek out the unpainted wood surfaces and bore their holes

The disappearance of the honey bee is a critical issue that is getting very little press. I have maintained all along that it is the increase of UHF (cell phones) that is interfering with the bees ability to get back to the nest. The French did a test a while back that seems to confirm this, but the cellular industry is now much too strong for it to make a difference. I am fighting the IRS right now over my use of pay phones instead of a cell. Pay phones give no receipts.

M.T.,

What's the size of the hole? Is this fine photo-shopped photo showing a hole the diameter of a BB or larger?

Suppose it could be tobacco, if the hole was large enough to stick a butt into. IIRC your market is non-smoking indoors, and on streets near public doors, windows, etc. Last time I visited the Windy City, saw butts stashed in just about every crack and crevase about 15 feet out from most every door downtown! Speaking of tobacco looking/colored frass, infesting old wood, it might be a round-headed borer, specifically an "old house borer", don't recall if they fly, but I'd expect they do. Their frass can be somewhat finely crumbled cigarette tobacco-like in color and such.

Originally Posted by Philip

I am fighting the IRS right now over my use of pay phones instead of a cell. Pay phones give no receipts.

To each their own ... seems such a useless fight.

If you are truly not trying to be funny, then write down the number of every pay phone you use, the number you called, the date and time you called, why you called and who you called, and the cost, etc., ... then go to the phone company and get a record of all the calls to those numbers you called and can provide documentation that you called, and those records should show your calls from those pay phone numbers at the same date and time you said you called ...

Even that might not be enough information, but without that information you likely do not stand a chance.

Again, though, seems as such a useless fight.

Don't pre-paid phone cards still work on pay-phones? Just keep a calling diary (just like a trip log). Save the receipts and attach the log to each exhausted card. Was good enough for "da Service" before most of the baby-bell pay phones started dissappearing leaving not much behind except for 3rd party pay phones. I know they still sell 'em (pre-paid phone cards) the south-of-the-boarder residents buy them up all the time to call back home (international cards).

Anyway, back to the european honey bee, its my understanding it is a parasitic mite that is mostly responsible.

Originally Posted by H.G. Watson, Sr.

Don't pre-paid phone cards still work on pay-phones?

Not for a long time, now. Many pay phones have been programmed to prevent outgoing 1-800 calls, and to only dial after you insert your coins, to keep you from using their equipment for free.

If it was a mite that was killing them then why is there not dead bees in the hive? The bees are leaving their hive and not able to find their way back. It is not know how bees navigate, although it was suspected they use an UFH signal. The French found an area with a working hive and installed a tower near it, and it soon died out. I plead with my grown children to not use their phone for idle chit-chat, to no avail. Forty-five years ago in Navy Electronics school they drummed into us that "there is no such thing as benign radiation." Now the cell phones are rated for "exposure", and that should tell you something. Just like the full body scans at the airports. I predict they won't last long because frequent fliers will start becoming sick. Why do you think that x-ray techs stand behind a lead shield and they are just in the same room and not in the beam. Sorry about the rant.

Originally Posted by Dom D'Agostino

Not for a long time, now. Many pay phones have been programmed to prevent outgoing 1-800 calls, and to only dial after you insert your coins, to keep you from using their equipment for free.

800 numbers are charged a per-minute rate for received calls - they're not free. Pay phone operators who block 800 numbers aren't doing so to prevent their equipment from being used for "free," it's so they have a higher revenue margin than the few cents a minute an 800 number owner pays them.

"catch the mystery, catch the drift"

Originally Posted by Michael Thomas

Saw the occupant fly (rapidly)into the hole at yesterday's inspection - it looked like a small bee, about the size of a "BB"

What am I seeing?

I don't know, but this is what I see.
1. The hole has painted edges. Homo sapien cablegii made the hole in the stucco. Then Homo sapien paintergii pulled out the cable and painted the house.
2. Big pile of frass, too much for individual insect, so a colony of ??? ants, most likely. Maybe the frass was wetted down after being pushed out of the hole, it looks clumpy.
3. The "bee" was a wasp, which looks like a small bee, that I've seen using ant holes for nesting ??? maybe they attack the ants while they're in there. I have pics from some I saw last year.

These pictures were too unclear for a positive ID. In the first pic, there is a hole above a large pile of ant frass to the right of the wasp (or fly). They would land at the entrance hole, blow frass aside with their wings and disappear into the ant nest.
This year, there has been no visible activity by the ants, huge colony last year.