Xylocopa micans
| Xylocopa micans | |
|---|---|
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| Female nectaring on Funastrum clausum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | Xylocopa |
| Subgenus: | Schoenherria |
| Species: | X. micans |
| Binomial name | |
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Xylocopa micans (Lepeletier, 1841) |
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| The range of Xylocopa micans. | |
| Synonyms | |
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Xylocopa vidua Lepeletier |
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| External identifiers for Xylocopa micans | |
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| Encyclopedia of Life | 1046285 |
Xylocopa vidua Lepeletier
Xylocopa purpurea Cresson
Xylocopa binotata Maidl
Xylocopa micans, also known as the southern carpenter bee, is a species of bee within Xylocopa, the genus of carpenter bees. The southern carpenter bee can be found mainly in the coastal and gulf regions of the southeastern United States, as well as Mexico and Guatemala. Like all Xylocopa bees, X. micans bees excavate nests in woody plant material. However, unlike its sympatric species Xylocopa virginica, X. micans has not been found to construct nest galleries in structural timbers of building, making it less of an economic nuisance to humans. Carpenter bees have a wide range of mating strategies between different species. The southern carpenter bee exhibits a polymorphic mating strategy, with its preferred method of mating changing as the season progresses from early spring to mid summer. Like most bees in its genus, the southern carpenter bee is considered a solitary bee because it does not live in colonies.
The French entomologist and Hymenoptera specialist Amédée Louis Michel le Peletier first described Xylocopa micans in 1841. The genus name Xylocopus is derived from the Ancient Greek word xylokopos/ξῦλοκὀπος meaning "wood-cutter," a reference to the bee's tendency to nest in wood. The species name micans comes from the Latin word for "shining," referring to the reflective quality of the bee's body. The common name for X. micans, the southern carpenter bee, refers to the distribution of the species in the southern United States. X. micans has been studied alongside X. virginica because of their sympatry in the state of Texas. Although the bees Xylocopa vidua, Xylocopa purpurea, and Xylocopa binotata have all been described separately by entomologists, they are all likely specimens within the species X. micans.X. micans belongs to the subgenus Schoenherria, which is a largely neotropical grouping of carpenter bee species.
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