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Violet Carpenter Bee in Romania? (1 Viewer)

Mark Eising

Registered Member
I think this is a Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea).
I found it in the Macin Mountains, Tulcea County, Romania, on 22 May 2018
Does anybody think so or otherwise?
 

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  • Violet Carpenter Bee. Xylocopa violacea. Macin Mountains, Tulcea County, Romania, 22 May 2018 5.JPG
    Violet Carpenter Bee. Xylocopa violacea. Macin Mountains, Tulcea County, Romania, 22 May 2018 5.JPG
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  • Violet Carpenter Bee. Xylocopa violacea. Macin Mountains, Tulcea County, Romania, 22 May 2018 2.JPG
    Violet Carpenter Bee. Xylocopa violacea. Macin Mountains, Tulcea County, Romania, 22 May 2018 2.JPG
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It certainly looks like a Xylocopa but there are, I believe, three species in Romania (Xylocopa iris (Christ, 1791),
Xylocopa valga Gerstäcker, 1872 and Xylocopa violacea (Linnaeus, 1758)). How one tells them apart I'm not sure (especially the last two).
 
Thank you Honeym! You are right. It is either X. violacea or X. valga. Not X. iris because that one is much smaller and has a bluish body.

This is some relevant info that I found:
Carpenter bee males are easy to distinguish under field conditions: in X. violacea, antenna segments 11 and 12 are orange and the segment 13 (apical) is black and characteristically curved, whereas X. valga males have black straight antennae.
A stereoscopic microscope is needed to study females of both carpenter bee species. Their antennae differ with regard to the length of the base segment (shorter in X. valga) as well as the number and distribution of sharp minute denticles on the exterior surface of hind tibia (more numerous in X. valga).

So I guess it can not be a ID 100% from these photos.
 
I used to live in a log home close to some woods. Every summer we received visits from nearby carpenter bees. These guys did some wicked damage to the log walls, and the males would do false dives for your head when you went outside. They never stung. But made lots of dives. I used to hear, however, that the queen--if disturbed--would sting.

Kentucky Carpenter Bee information from Pinterest.

Oh well. A Kentucky woods story from my past.

o:D
 
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