Explanation of Names
From the carpenter-bee genus Xylocopa + the Greek ending -oides (-οιδης)- "looking like, like"
Identification
A very dark Megachile, resembles a Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa, especially such blue-black species as Xylocopa micans.
Quoting from
Bees of Florida:
Subgenus Melanosarus Mitchell, 2 species. A neotropical subgenus with 2 species in the USA. M. bahamensis is restricted to SE Florida while M. xylocopoides likely occurs throughout the state....
Megachilidae: Megachile xylocopoides Smith. ... Dates: March to November. Notes: primarily a coastal plain species of the SE USA; extends west to to the western deserts.
Range
Southeastern United States, esp. coastal plain
Season
March-November (Florida). May-September (North Carolina)
Print References
Brimley, p. 460, lists for coastal plain and (one record) lower Piedmont of North Carolina.
(1)Internet References
Florida Bees--photos of specimens and descriptions of this, and a related species, M. bahamensis.
North Carolina State University Entomology--common, with 71 pinned, including specimens from that state
