Xylocopa iris
| Xylocopa iris | ||||||||||||
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Xylocopa iris |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Xylocopa iris | ||||||||||||
| ( Christ , 1791) |
Xylocopa iris is a bee from the kind of carpenter bees ( Xylocopa ) within the family of Apidae .
features
The bees reach a body length of 14 to 16 millimeters and have a black colored body. The abdomen usually shimmers bluish. Because of its smaller size and the blue color of the abdomen, it is easy to distinguish the species from the other wood bee species found in Central Europe.
Occurrence
The species is distributed in the Mediterranean area and east to Central Asia. In Central Europe the animals are rare and in Germany only occur in Baden-Württemberg , in Austria the species only occurs in Lower Austria and in Switzerland in Valais and Ticino . In Baden-Württemberg the species is considered extinct, in Switzerland as critically endangered.
Way of life
Unlike most other wooden bees, the females of Xylocopa iris build their nests in the dead stems of umbellifers and daisy plants . At a height of about 10 to 20 centimeters, the entrance hole is gnawed into stems about 15 to 20 millimeters thick. Then the inside is hollowed out and the stem is shortened to about 20 to 40 centimeters in length. This presumably serves the wind stability of the nesting site. The upper opening created by the shortening is thickly sealed with a medullary plug. The individual brood cells are finally placed between the upper plug and the entrance hole.
literature
- Andreas Müller, Albert Krebs, Felix Amiet: Bees. Central European species, way of life, observation. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-89440-241-5 .
