Female carpenter bees have stingers at the back tip of their abdomen. While they are capable of stinging humans, female carpenter bees only use their stingers if provoked. Unlike other bee species, the stingers on female carpenter bees are not barbed, meaning they are able to sting repeatedly without fear of detaching the stinger. Stingers are also vital to the reproduction of carpenter bees since queen carpenter bees produce eggs from their stingers, which are also called ovipositers. The pain from a bee sting comes from a venom sac attached to the stinger. Male carpenter bees do not have stingers since they are not responsible for reproduction.
The abdomen is the rear body part for carpenter bees. The size of a carpenter bee's abdomen is similar to a bumble bee. However, bumble bees have yellow and black hairs on their abdomens, while the abdomens of carpenter bees are shiny black and hairless. A carpenter bee's stinger is attached to the rear tip of its abdomen. The abdomen is the largest part of a carpenter bee's body; this body part is larger than the bee's head and thorax combined. A carpenter bee's abdomen is also where the development of bee eggs occurs.
Thoraxes are the middle sections of carpenter bees. This body part connects to the head on its front side and abdomen at its rear. Both sets of carpenter bee wings attach to the sides of the bee's thorax. The carpenter bee's thorax is the only body part with hair; the color of thorax's hair strands are usually yellow, but they may also be orange or white. Also, all six legs of the carpenter bee attach to the bottom of its thorax. The thoraxes hosts a carpenter bee's thoracic muscles. These bees use their thoracic muscles to gather pollen grains from a flower's anthers during pollination, according to Texas A&M University.
The head of a carpenter bee is at the front of the insect's body. This body part features its mandibles -- the carpenter bee's version of a mouth -- which carpenter bees use to transform pollen into nectar. Carpenter bees also use their mandibles to tear out wood for nesting purposes and regurgitating nectar; the nectar serves as a bed for the female bee's eggs. A carpenter bee's head is also attached to its antennae, the main tool for the bee's olfactory sense, or sense of smell. The top of a male carpenter bee's head features a white spot between its eyes, while female carpenter bees do not have any markings on their head.