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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees (Apidae) » Carpenter and Small carpenter Bees (Xylocopinae) » Large Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa) » Subgenus Notoxylocopa (Xylocopa Subgenus Notoxylocopa) » Horse-fly Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa tabaniformis) » Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex
Photo#46672
Carpenter Bee: Tan Shoulders, Grey Eyes- And An Attitude! - Xylocopa tabaniformis - male
Copyright © 2006 Chuck Entz

Carpenter Bee: Tan Shoulders, Grey Eyes- And An Attitude! - Xylocopa tabaniformis - Male
Encino, Los Angeles County, California, USA
April 2, 2006
Size: 1/2 inch
This is one hyper bee! I tried to photograph it a week or two ago, and got nothing but blurs and shots of where it used to be. This time I just kept taking tons of pictures without taking time to frame the picture. End result: more than 60 deleted images with 8 kept.

I only see it on this native sage (Salvia brandegei), and it never stays for more than a second or two on each flower. Any time it sees another bee, it chases it off. One Valley Carpenter Bee twice its size ignored it- so it flew right into her at full speed!

I hope there's enough detail for an ID.

Images of this individual: tag all
Carpenter Bee: Tan Shoulders, Grey Eyes- And An Attitude! - Xylocopa tabaniformis - male Carpenter Bee: Tan Shoulders, Grey Eyes- And An Attitude! - Xylocopa tabaniformis Carpenter Bee: Tan Shoulders, Grey Eyes- And An Attitude! - Xylocopa tabaniformis Carpenter Bee: Tan Shoulders, Grey Eyes- And An Attitude! - Xylocopa tabaniformis
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Contributed by Chuck Entz on 2 April, 2006 - 11:18pm
Last updated 24 April, 2009 - 9:26am

Moved
Moved from Xylocopa tabaniformis.
… John S. Ascher, 24 April, 2009 - 9:26am login or register to post comments

Aggressive behavior
I recently observed an X. tabaniformis in my garden knocking a X. varipunctata out of the air. The latter then fell to the ground, clambered up a culm of grass, went on to 'steal' nectar from a Salvia...
All of this aside, I think its safe to say that this is a male X. tabaniformis.
… Hartmut Wisch, 5 June, 2006 - 7:19pm login or register to post comments

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