Diaxylocopa

Taxonomy

Background

Xylocopa (Diaxylocopa) is known only by the female of one species, Xylocopa truxali. It is a small bee, 10 – 15 mm in length, which has black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
with very weak metallic reflections. It has a moderate to thick brownish black pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
on the head, thorax, and the underside of the abdomen that is slightly lighter on the dorsumdorsum:
in general, the upper surface
of the thorax. They also have brownish orange hair on the pygidialpygidial:
the terminal part or hind segment of the body
fimbria and white laterallateral:
relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
tufts on the last two tergaterga:
the segments on the top side of the abdomen, often abbreviated when referring to a specific segment to T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, or T7
. The wings are brown with weak violet iridescence (Hurd and Moure 1963Hurd and Moure 1963:
Hurd, P.D. and J.S. Moure. 1963. A Classification of the Large Carpenter Bees (Xylocopine) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology (Vol. 29). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 365 pp.). Xylocopa truxali is considered to be a threatened species because of habitat destruction (Martins et al. 2012Martins et al. 2012:
Martins, C., R. A. Silveira, N. d. O. Nascimento, and Y. Antonini. 2012. Fauna de abelhas de campos rupestres ferruginosos no Quadrilaacute;tero Ferriacute;fero, Minas Gerais. Biota 5: 34-37.).

Diversity

Xylocopa (Diaxylocopa) contains only one listed species, Xylocopa truxali (Hurd and Moure 1963Hurd and Moure 1963:
Hurd, P.D. and J.S. Moure. 1963. A Classification of the Large Carpenter Bees (Xylocopine) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology (Vol. 29). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 365 pp.).

Distribution

Few Xylocopa (Diaxylocopa) have been collected so little is known about their floral preferences but they are known to excavate nests in the branches of Vellozia (Silveira 2002Silveira 2002:
Silveira, F. A. 2002. The bamboo-nesting carpenter bee, Xylocopa ( Stenoxylocopa ) artifex Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), also nests in fibrous branches of Vellozia (Velloziaceae). Lundiana International Journal of Biodiversity 3 (1): 953 pp.).
​Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

Host associations

Few Xylocopa (Diaxylocopa) have been collected so little is known about their floral preferences but they are known to excavate nests in the branches of Vellozia (Silveira 2002Silveira 2002:
Silveira, F. A. 2002. The bamboo-nesting carpenter bee, Xylocopa ( Stenoxylocopa ) artifex Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), also nests in fibrous branches of Vellozia (Velloziaceae). Lundiana International Journal of Biodiversity 3 (1): 953 pp.).

Diagnostic characteristics

(modified from Hurd and Moure 1963Hurd and Moure 1963:
Hurd, P.D. and J.S. Moure. 1963. A Classification of the Large Carpenter Bees (Xylocopine) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology (Vol. 29). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 365 pp.)

• Eyes more convergent below than above.
• Ocelli low, below level of eye summits, and without elevated laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  ridges.
• Clypeus clypeus:
  a section of the face below the antennae, demarcated by the epistomal sutures
  less than half as long as broad.
• Mandible mandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  tridentate, with lower tooth much wider than upper tooth.
• Malar area malar area:
  the shortest distance between the base of the mandible and the margin of the compound eye
  short.
• Scutum scutum:
  the large segment on top of the thorax located between the wings and behind the head
  broadly impunctateimpunctate:
  marked with punctures or pits
  medially.
• Scutellum scutellum:
  shield shaped plate behind scutum
  gently convexconvex:
  curved outward
  .
• Propodeal triangle well developed.
• Basitibial plate basitibial plate:
  a small plate at the base of the hind tibia, like a kneecap
  bifid.
• Pygidial plate pygidial plate:
  unusually flat area (a plate) surrounded by a ridge or line and sometimes sticking well off of the end of the bee; if present, found on the sixth upper abdominal segment in females, seventh in males
  narrow, with subapicalsubapical:
  located just behind the apex of the segment or body part
  laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  spines present.

May be confused with

Xylocopa (Diaxylocopa) females are most similar to X. (Monoxylocopa) but can be easily differentiated by their tridentatetridentate:
having three teeth
mandibles.

Nesting behavior

Xylocopa (Diaxylocopa) has been reported to bore out nests in the branches of the plant genus Vellozia (Velloziaceae) (Silveira 2002Silveira 2002:
Silveira, F. A. 2002. The bamboo-nesting carpenter bee, Xylocopa ( Stenoxylocopa ) artifex Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), also nests in fibrous branches of Vellozia (Velloziaceae). Lundiana International Journal of Biodiversity 3 (1): 953 pp.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

References

Hurd, P.D. and J.S. Moure. 1963. A Classification of the Large Carpenter Bees (Xylocopine) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology (Vol. 29). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 365 pp.

Martins, C., R. A. Silveira, N. d. O. Nascimento, and Y. Antonini. 2012. Fauna de abelhas de campos rupestres ferruginosos no Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais. Biota 5: 34-37.

Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.

Silveira, F. A. 2002. The bamboo-nesting carpenter bee, Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) artifex Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), also nests in fibrous branches of Vellozia (Velloziaceae). Lundiana International Journal of Biodiversity 3 (1): 953 pp.