THE SOLITARY REAPER

May 2022

Keeping Precious Creatures Organized for Grumpy Scientists: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

I came across the memorable mnemonic for taxonomy when looking up my immediate object of admiration: the carpenter bee.

Carpenter bees are a species in the genus Xylocopa, a term derived from the ancient Greek for 'wood-cutter'. They drill into wood to create their nests.

My current accommodation in the Western Ghats has a wall of blue trumpetvine which are mauve. Carpenter bees zigzag there all day.

They land on a flower, dive deep for the nectar, reverse, exit, and then buzz into the next flower. Here’s what I found about them.

- The carpenter is a solitary bee - no hives, honey.

- It is the largest bee in India.

- They mate in flight, or ‘on the wing’.

- They are significant pollinators.

- Optical refraction, not pigmentation, makes their membranous wings lustrous and iridescent.

- Male dies after mating.

Carpenter bees look much like bumblebees. They are as large, dark and chubby, but with one big difference: bumblebees have fuzzy butts while the carpenters have shiny leathery behinds.

PS: One wonders what percentage of humans would classify as carpenter, what as bum-ble.

PPS: If you remember your Order, it’s Primates, and among your Class-mates are bats and rats.

~*~