Ctenoxylocopa

Taxonomy

Background

Xylocopa (Ctenoxylocopa) are small to medium sized bees, 10 – 25 mm in length, with black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
. They have black pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
on the head, the underside of the thorax and abdomen. Some species have white to cream colored pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
on the sides of the abdomen and the front of the head. Some females may have dark mahogany pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
on the underside of their abdomen and thorax. Their wings tend to be clear at the base and switch to brown partway through the wing. The wings also have strong violet iridescent color (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.).

Diversity

Xylocopa (Ctenoxylocopa) contains 7 species (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.; Eardley 1987Eardley 1987:
Eardley, C. D. 1987. Catalogue of Apoidea (Hymenoptera) in Africa south of the Sahara, Part 1, The genus Xylocopa Latreille (Anthophoridae). Entomology Memoir, No. 70: 1-20.).

Distribution

Xylocopa (Ctenoxylocopa) occurs in sub-Saharan Africa including Madagascar and Mauritius, the Middle East and trans-Caspian Russia, Pakistan, India, and Burma (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.; Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.).
​Distribution map generated by Discover Life -- click on map for details, credits, and terms of use.

Host associations

Like many carpenter bees, Xylocopa (Ctenoxylocopa) are known to be generalist pollinators and nectar robbers (Zhang et al. 2007Zhang et al. 2007:
Zhang, Y.W., G. W. Robert, Y. Wang, and Y. H. Guo. 2007. Nectar Robbing of a Carpenter Bee and Its Effects on the Reproductive Fitness of Glechoma Longituba (Lamiaceae). Plant Ecology 193(1): 1-13.). The type species of this subgenus, Xylocopa (Ctenoxylocopa) fenestrate has recorded associations with members of the following families: Amaryllidaceae, Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, Bignoniaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Lythraceae, and Myrtaceae (Bodlah et al. 2015Bodlah et al. 2015:
Bodlah, I., M. Amjad, M. Ahmad, A. Gulzar, M. A. Aziz, M. A. Bodlah, and M. Naeem. 2015. Two Genera of Xylocopinae (Hymenoptera) with Floral Host Plants from Pothwar, (Punjab), Pakistan. Pakistan Entomologist 37(1): 33-37.).

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.)

• First submarginal cross vein strongly slanting.
• Posterolateral lobes of pronotumpronotum:
  a collar-like segment on the thorax and directly behind the head; extends down the sides of the thorax toward the first pair of legs
  prolonged posteriorly beneath the tegulategula:
  the usually oval, small shield-like structure carried at the extreme base of the wing where it attaches to the body
  .
• T3 spiraclespiracle:
  a breathing pore, usually occurring on the third thorasic segment
  with an elevated scale-like process near its border.
• Male basitibial platebasitibial plate:
  a small plate at the base of the hind tibia, like a kneecap
  strongly bifidbifid:
  divided into two branches; forked
  .
• Male first flagellar segment at most scarcely longer than combined lengths of succeeding two segments.
• Female first flagellar segment at most about as long as the combined lengths of succeeding two segments.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  tridentate.
• Female malar areamalar area:
  the shortest distance between the base of the mandible and the margin of the compound eye
  short, minimum length much less than length of pedicel
• Female hind tibiatibia:
  the segment of the leg, between the femur and the tarsus
  with a single apicalapical:
  near or at the apex or end of any structure
  tooth.
• Female propodealpropodeal:
  the last segment of the thorax
  triangle present.
• Female pygidial platepygidial 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
  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 (Ctenoxylocopa) can look superficially similar to X. (Copoxyla). The unique scale-like process spiracles of T3T3:
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
and the posteriorly extended pronotal lobes separate X. (Ctenoxylocopa) from all other Xylocopa subgenera (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.).

Nesting behavior

Most members of Xylocopa bore into woody stems and branches in order to construct nests. Typically, where space allows it, they construct branched nests (Michener 2007Michener 2007:
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.). One species, Xylocopa sulcatipes, was observed to nest in members of the Asclepiadaceae and Arecaceae families (Hannan et al. 2012Hannan et al. 2012:
Hannan, M. A., A. Alqarni, A. A. Owayss, and M. S. Engel. 2012. The large carpenter bees of central Saudi Arabia, with notes on the biology of Xylocopa sulcatipes Maa (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Xylocopinae). ZooKeys 201(201): 1-14.). There is a record of Xylocopa basalis nesting in Calostopis sp. (Maa 1970Maa 1970:
Maa, T. C. 1970. A Revision of the Subgenus Ctenoxylocopa (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Pacific Insects 12(4): 723-752.).

Known invasives

A male and a female of Xylocopa (Ctenoxylocopa) fenestrate were found in a garden in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) (Hurd 1978Hurd 1978:
Hurd, P.D. 1978. An Annotated Catalog of the Carpenter Bees (Genus Xylocopa Latreille) of the Western Hemisphere (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 106 pp.). However, there are no known established populations.

References

Bodlah, I., M. Amjad, M. Ahmad, A. Gulzar, M. A. Aziz, M. A. Bodlah, and M. Naeem. 2015. Two Genera of Xylocopinae (Hymenoptera) with Floral Host Plants from Pothwar, (Punjab), Pakistan. Pakistan Entomologist 37(1): 33-37.

Eardley, C. D. 1987. Catalogue of Apoidea (Hymenoptera) in Africa south of the Sahara, Part 1, The genus Xylocopa Latreille (Anthophoridae). Entomology Memoir, No. 70: 1-20.

Hannan, M. A., A. Alqarni, A. A. Owayss, and M. S. Engel. 2012. The large carpenter bees of central Saudi Arabia, with notes on the biology of Xylocopa sulcatipes Maa (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Xylocopinae). ZooKeys 201(201): 1-14.

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.

Hurd, P.D. 1978. An Annotated Catalog of the Carpenter Bees (Genus Xylocopa Latreille) of the Western Hemisphere (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 106 pp.

Maa, T. C. 1970. A Revision of the Subgenus Ctenoxylocopa (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Pacific Insects 12(4): 723-752.

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

Zhang, Y.W., G. W. Robert, Y. Wang, and Y. H. Guo. 2007. Nectar Robbing of a Carpenter Bee and Its Effects on the Reproductive Fitness of Glechoma Longituba (Lamiaceae). Plant Ecology 193(1): 1-13.