Green Carpenter Bee - Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus
Family ANTHOPHORIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about Green Carpenter Bees that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Female, body length 20mm
- This is a large and hairy bee, with metallic dark green abdomen and thorax. Wings are tinted dark brown in colour. Male has golden hairs on thorax and abdomen. Female's hairs are darker in colour.
- This species Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus found in Brisbane looked very similar to the X. (L.) bombylans which can be found in the southern part of Australia. From the reference they look the same except X. (L.) bombylans is more to the dark blue colour while this X. (L.) aeratus is more to dark green.
- They are solitary, i.e., living on its own, not like the Honey Bees that living in group.
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- The bee was checking a dry stem.
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Female
Male
- We noticed this bee when it was clawing on ground above fallen plant materials. The hairs on its body looked "wet" and its wings look soft. We believed the bee was just emerged from its pupa.
- It took above half an hour for the bee climbing up on a small plant. It than rested on a leaf.
- We checked the bee again after an hour later and the bee still resting on the leaf.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, plate5U.
- 2. Green carpenter bee, Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus (Smith, 1851) (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopinae: Xylocopini) - PaDIL, Last Updated: 7/6/2010.
