Tiger Bee Fly

A guest brought in a dead branch from a mulberry tree that had large tunnels bored into it. I recognized these tunnels as Carpenter bee galleries. Carpenter bees usually attack already dead wood so I wasn't too concerned until I saw this monster flying out of the gallery (luckily the whole thing was in a plastic bag). 

Tiger Bee Fly, about an inch and a half wide -he's a big boy.  

This was a Tiger bee fly. A very pretty and non-disgusting member of the fly family. And it east Carpenter bee larvae, in fact their was a Carpenter bee larvae mummy, probably the victim of the Tiger bee's own bee eating larvae, located just inside one of the tunnels (see below) 

Carpenter bee larvae mummy, a probable victim of the Tiger bee fly.