Xylocopa senior

Xylocopa senior Vachal

Xylocopa senior Vachal, 1899. Holotype in Paris (MNHN). Type locality: Tanzania.



Xylocopa senior being harassed by a territorial anthophorine bee (a species of Amegilla). Photographs © Dave West (Randburg). Determinations by Connal Eardley 2021.

Distribution	Angola, Botswana, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe.
Biology	Carpenter bees bore tunnels into wood to construct a nest, which they provision with a mixture of pollen and nectar sculptured into an elongate shape. This acts as a food source for their developing larvae. A number of partitions (each containing a single larva) may be constructed within the tunnel, the partitions are made out of chewed wood. Recorded visiting flowers of: Cassia didymobotrya, Cleome angustifolia, Combretum sp., Crotalaria podocarpa, Crotalaria sp., Tephrosia oxygona. Nests in: Aloe littoralis, Bequaertiodendron magalismontanum, Jacaranda sp., Uapaca kirkiana (Eardley & Urban, 2010). Parasitized by: Dinogamasus braunsi, Hyperechia consimilis, Physocephala bimarginipennis (Eardley & Urban, 2010).
References	Eardley, C.D. 1983. A taxonomic revision of the genus Xylocopa Latreille (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae) in southern Africa. Entomology Memoir, Department of Agriculture, Republic of South Africa 58: 67pp. Eardley, C & Urban, R. 2010. Catalogue of Afrotropical bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes). Zootaxa 2455: 1-548. Michener, C.D. 2000. The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press. 953 pp.
Credits	Photographs of living specimens © Dave West (Randburg). Photographs of specimens in SAMC © Iziko Museums of South Africa. Map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).