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Hymenoptera is a large order of insects containing wasps, bees, ants, and sawflies. The title 'hymenoptera' comes from Greek and it means 'hymen-wing' or in other words, 'membrane-wing.'

Insects that belong to the order hymenoptera have the same body shape as other insects; head, thorax, and abdomen. They have two pairs of wings with the forewings usually larger than the hindwings, and the wings are connected to each other by hooks called 'hamuli.' These insects tend to have antennae with over 10 segments and longer than the head. They also have chewing mouthparts, although some species have 'tongues' for lapping liquids.

The one thing that most people think of when they hear 'ant' or 'bee' is a large colony of those insects. It is true that some species in the order hymenoptera live in social colonies with 'caste' systems, such as ants having soldiers, nurses, foragers, and diggers.

The picture at the top of this page is a species called the Agapostemon virescens. It is one of my favorite bees due to its metallic green color. They are quite abundant in the Boston Harbor Islands where I worked for three weeks. I have yet to see whether they are here on Groton campus, but I have found a few green bees. I guess I will have to wait until I identify them.

For more detailed pictures that I took with a microscope camera, click here.

Apidae - Apis - Apis mellifera (Honey bee):

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For more detailed pictures that I took with a microscope camera, click here.

Apidae - Bombus - Bombus griseocollis (Brownbelted bumblebee):

For more detailed pictures that I took with a microscope camera, click here.

Apidae - Bombus - Bombus impatiens (Common eastern bumblebee):

For more detailed pictures that I took with a microscope camera, click here.

Apidae - Xylocopa - Xylocopa virginica (Eastern carpenter bee): The eastern carpenter bees are probably the largest species of hymenoptera to be found on Groton campus. They are abundant in the spring near flowers, and they can be easily mistaken for bumblebees due to their large body and black abdomen. However, unlike bumblebees, the X. virginica have smooth, black abdomens with almost no hair. Like most bees, X. virginica are important pollinators, although they often ‘steal’ nectar by taking the nectar and not the pollen.

As their name suggests, carpenter bees nest in wood, but they merely bore through the wood instead of consuming it as termites do. The females bore through the wood, creating T-shaped nests. X. virginica are not solitary like many bees, nor are they extremely social like honey bees. The males guard the nests or flowers, but they are not aggressive towards human, and to top it off, the males don’t have stingers, so they can’t really hurt you anyways. It’s the females that can be painful. Females are scary, even in the world of arthropods.