The mud nests are unlikely to be anything the giant resin bees are interested in. You can see the small exit holes indicating that wasps have left them--I would carefully brush them away, and collect the debris, which will include dead spiders and such. Not sure why the resin bees would be indoors. If they can't be manually caught and removed, perhaps a carpenter bee trap might work.
On Monday 15 July 2024 at 15:27:45 UTC-4 ktotten wrote: > Thank you for your input! This is definitely a Giant Resin Bee. After some > research (and several more bees in the house after my first message), we > have also noticed a series of old mud nests that we believe they are taking > over. Any advice? Would taking down the nests be enough to keep them out of > the house? Unfortunately I do not feel comfortable treating the windows, as > they are historic. > > On Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 3:52:06 PM UTC-4 jefctaylor wrote: > >> This looks to me like the giant resin bee *Megachile sculptaris* >> In eastern North America they nest in old carpenter bee burrows, which >> are typically chewed into timbers. >> On Thursday 11 July 2024 at 15:38:07 UTC-4 ktotten wrote: >> >>> I work at a historic house and recently we have seen several bees on the >>> second floor office space. They are large (around 3cm long), mostly black, >>> with large pinchers. After one I thought it was a fluke, but after the >>> fourth, I'm worried for the staff working in those offices. >>> >>> I believe it might be a leaf-cutter bee? We have gardens behind the >>> house with a pollinator garden, so bees are not unusual but they have never >>> gotten in the house before. >>> >>> I've already contacted our usual pest guy, but I'm hoping for help IDing >>> and mitigation advice before he arrives. Any ideas? >>> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/0e3ded5e-c9a2-4ddc-8ae1-a9aa640e456cn%40googlegroups.com.
