Nyctomelitta

Taxonomy

Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Xylocopinae
Tribe: Xylocopini
Genus: Xylocopa
Subgenus: Nyctomelitta, Cockerell 1929
Common name: Carpenter bee

Background

Xylocopa (Nyctomelitta) are large bees, 26 – 35 mm in length, with reddish brown integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
. They have thick, orange to rust colored pubescencepubescence:
short, fine hair
that covers the legs, head, thorax, and abdomen. Their wings are amber in color with a weak purple iridescence. Members of this subgenus are crepuscular and have distinctively large eyes and ocelliocelli:
simple light reception organs; bees have three of them at the top of their head
(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 (Nyctomelitta) contains 3 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.).

Distribution

Xylocopa (Nyctomelitta) is known from India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia (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

Xylocopa (Nyctomelitta) is crepuscular and only known to visit flowers that are open in the evening. They have been recorded visiting flowers from a number of plant families including: Acanthaceae, Anacardiaceae, Bignoniaceae, Bombacaceae, Brassicaceae, Casuarinaceae, Combretaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Meliaceae, Moraceae, Myrtaceae, Prunus, Rosaceae, Rutaceae, Sapotaceae, Sonneratiaceae, and Ulmaceae (Burgett et al. 2005Burgett et al. 2005:
Burgett, M., P. Sukumalanand, G. Vorwohl. 2005. Pollen Species Resources for Xylocopa ( Nyctomelitta ) tranquebarica (F.) A Night-Flying Carpenter Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of Southeast Asia. ScienceAsia 31: 65-68.).

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.)

• Ocelli greatly enlarged.
• Malar area malar area:
  the shortest distance between the base of the mandible and the margin of the compound eye
  short.
• Scutellum scutellum:
  shield shaped plate behind scutum
  gently rounded in profile.
• Basitibial plate basitibial plate:
  a small plate at the base of the hind tibia, like a kneecap
  bifid.
• Male eyes enlarged and more convergent above than below.
• Male mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  bidentatebidentate:
  having two teeth
  .
• Male first flagellar segment shorter than combined lengths of the next three segments.
• Male propodealpropodeal:
  the last segment of the thorax
  triangle absent.
• 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.
• Female mandiblemandible:
  bee teeth, so to speak, usually crossed and folded in front of the mouth
  bidentatebidentate:
  having two teeth
  , with an additional internal tooth.
• 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
  nearly parallel-sided and with subapicalsubapical:
  located just behind the apex of the segment or body part
  laterallateral:
  relating, pertaining, or attached to the side
  teeth present.

May be confused with

The combination of their large size, reddish-brown integumentintegument:
a tough, protective outer layer
, and greatly enlarged ocelliocelli:
simple light reception organs; bees have three of them at the top of their head
make this subgenus unlikely to be confused with 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

Little is known about the nesting habits of Xylocopa (Nyctomelitta) but they have been recorded nesting in a dead logs and stumps, wooden posts, the branches of a mango tree (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.).

Known invasives

There are no known invasives.

References

Burgett, M., P. Sukumalanand, G. Vorwohl. 2005. Pollen Species Resources for Xylocopa (Nyctomelitta) tranquebarica (F.) A Night-Flying Carpenter Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of Southeast Asia. ScienceAsia 31: 65-68.

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

Warrant, E.J. 2008. Seeing in the dark: vision and visual behaviour in nocturnal bees and wasps. The Journal of Experimental Biology 211: 1737-1746.