Giant Resin Bee
Megachile sculpturalis
Megachilidae
The largest leafcutter bee in North America — up to an inch long — and one of the first Asian bees to naturalize widely in the eastern US. Currently classified as non-invasive and a competent pollinator, but watched: it nests in the same cavities as native mason and leafcutter bees, and can displace them.
How to spot one.
Very large (0.75–1 inch)
Golden-orange fuzzy thorax
Solid black abdomen (no stripes)
Distinctly hairy legs
How it lives.
Solitary cavity-nester. Uses existing holes in wood or hollow stems. Unlike leaf-cutting Megachile species that cut leaves, this species uses tree resin and sap to construct nest cells (hence 'resin bee').
The spec sheet.
- Type
- Bee
- Active
- July – September
- Native to NJ
- No — see origin
- Origin
- Native to Asia. First recorded in North America in 1994; now widespread across the Northeast including NJ.
- Conservation status
- abundant
- Family
- Megachilidae
What it needs.
Plants this species visits, feeds on, or depends on. Names in hydrangea link to the plant’s Field Guide entry.
Wide variety of native and non-native flowers
Nectar source
Brooklyn Greenway · Xerces Society
Others in this group.
- BsBeeNative · NJ
Bumble Bees
Bombus spp.
Big, fuzzy, striped, social bees — the ones everyone recognizes. Bumble bees are the most efficient pollinators in New Jersey and the only bees here t…
- AsBeeNative · NJ
Mining Bees
Andrena spp.
The first bees on the wing each year. Mining bees are solitary ground-nesters that emerge in March and April — often while the ground is still cold —…
- OsBeeNative · NJ
Mason Bees
Osmia spp.
Small metallic blue-black solitary bees that pollinate spring fruit trees more efficiently than any other insect on the continent. One female mason be…