What kind of bees look like honey bee size black bumble bees?

Question

There is a little black bee pollinating our garden and neither my mom nor I know what it's called. It's about the same size as a honey bee, but looks a lot like a black bumble bee. I tried looking up bee on wikipedia, but one thing led to another and I had no clue what it was talking about.

Also, what bee species are native to the US?

Answer 1

It is better to learn to ID them, here -

http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

http://greennature.com/article1899.html

http://www.einsteins-emporium.com/life/a...

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/

http://www.insectimages.org/

Answer 2

Find the one that looks like your bee and click on the picture.  They will provide you a name that you can look up.  There are a number of different families of bees.  Carpenter are usually larger than honey bees.  Bumble bees are about honey bee size but more robust.  Identifying the species may require studying the veins in the wings and other details of the bees anatomy.  Take your pick.

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&k...