Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Xylocopinae
Tribe: Xylocopini
Genus: Xylocopa
Subgenus: Stenoxylocopa, Hurd and Moure 1960
Common name: Carpenter bee
Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) are slender, small sized bees, 10 – 15 mm in length, with reddish brown to black integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
that is very weakly metallic in bright light. Males have relatively thick grey, black, and pale pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
and females have brown to black pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
. Their wings are light brown to nearly clear with weak to strong iridescent colors of bronze, gold, green, copper, and rose (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 (Stenoxylocopa) includes 6 species (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.; Minckley 1998Minckley 1998:
Minckley, R. L. 1998. A Cladistic Analysis and Classification of the Subgenera and Genera of the Large Carpenter Bees, Tribe Xylocopini (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Natural History Museum, The University of Kansas 9: 1-47.).
Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) is known from southern Arizona in the US and south to Buenos Aires, Argentina (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.
Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) is a generalist pollinator and has been recorded visiting flowers from the plant families Asteraceae, Bignoniaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Passifloraceae, and Solanaceae (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.).
(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. and Minckley 1998Minckley 1998:
Minckley, R. L. 1998. A Cladistic Analysis and Classification of the Subgenera and Genera of the Large Carpenter Bees, Tribe Xylocopini (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Natural History Museum, The University of Kansas 9: 1-47.)
Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) is most similar to the subgenus X. (Neoxylocopa). Males can be distinguished by their tegulategula:
the usually oval, small shield-like structure carried at the extreme base of the wing where it attaches to the body
, which are impunctateimpunctate:
marked with punctures or pits
and shining posterolateral third. Females can be distinguished by the inner mandibularmandibular:
near the mandible
tooth that is as wide as, or wider than, the outer tooth (Minckley 1998Minckley 1998:
Minckley, R. L. 1998. A Cladistic Analysis and Classification of the Subgenera and Genera of the Large Carpenter Bees, Tribe Xylocopini (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Natural History Museum, The University of Kansas 9: 1-47.).
It was once thought that Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) nested exclusively in bamboo; however, in 2002 it was found that they also nest in the fibrous branches of the plant genus Vellozia. Due to the fibrous nature of both bamboo and Vellozia, it is suspected that in the absence of bamboo, members of the Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) may use other fibrous plants for nesting (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.).
There are no known invasives.
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. Bamboo-Nesting Carpenter Bees (Genus Xylocopa Latreille) of the Subgenus Stenoxylocopa Hurd and Moure (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 51(4): 746-764.
Keasar, T. 2010. Large Carpenter Bees as Agricultural Pollinators. Psyche doi:10.1155/2010/927463.
Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 953 pp.
Minckley, R.L. 1998. A Cladistic Analysis and Classification of the Subgenera and Genera of the Large Carpenter Bees, Tribe Xylocopini (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Natural History Museum the University of Kansas 9: 1-47.
Silveira, F.A. 2002. The bamboo-nesting carpenter bee, Xylocopa (Stenoxylocopa) artifex Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae), also nests in fibrous branches of Vellozia (Velloziaceae). Lundiana 3(1): 57-60.