Xylocopa sonorina Smith, 1874
Properties
Scientific Name: Xylocopa sonorina Smith, 1874
Common Name: Hawaiian Carpenter Bee
Taxonomy
Xylocopa sonorina Smith, 1874: 278 [♀].
Holotype ♀. USA, Hawaii, Sandw[ich]. Isl[and].” (not Sunda Isl.; see Lieftinck 1956), presented by E.W.H. Holdsworth Esq to the British Museum under register 1864.8 as per Lieftinck (1956: ) [BMNH no. NHMUK010265364].
Xylocopa varipuncta Patton, 1879: 60 [♀]. Synonymy by Sheffield et al. (2020: 4).
Syntypes ♀. USA, Arizona, by C.V. Riley [USNM].
Taxonomic notes: The ♂ was first keyed by Cockerell (1904: 86) as X. varipuncta Patton, and later by Hurd (1955: 41-42) as Xylocopa brasilianorum (Linnaeus), following the taxonomy of Ackerman (1916), though did not distinguish between males of subspecies brasilianorum and varipunctata (Hurd 1955: 59), claiming that they were known from only a few specimens; the male was unknown at the time of Ackerman (1916). He also did not indicate a range for X. varipunctata extending further north than northern California (Hurd 1955: 60), though he identified the specimen from British Columbia in 1954. Hurd and Moure (1963: 151) recognized X. varipuncta as a valid species based on male genitalia.
Timberlake (1922) felt that specimens of Xylocopa from the Hawaiian Islands were the same as X. varipuncta from the USA, an opinion that T.D.A. Cockerell shared (as per Timberlake 1922), and later Williams (1926) and Nishida (1958). Hurd (1978: 75), calling the Hawaiian material X. sonorina Smith (a species described from the Sundra Islands) was not convinced of this, and other authors have subsequenctly applied X. sonorina to specimens from Hawaii (Gerling 1982). However, Hurd and Moure (1963: 150) did consider that X. sororina was an established species in the Hawaiian and Marianas islands (presumably from the Sundra Islands or other parts of the Indonesian Archipelago), supporting Timberlake (1922) who suggested the possibility that this species was introduced to Hawaii. This was a possibility that was also considered by Snelling (2003).
Biology: Janzen (1964) reported on the nests of X. varipuncta in a driftwood log on a beach in Mexico, though indicates that the nest was likely made after the log washed ashore. However, such a log being washed back out and moving in ocean currents would allow this species to move and establish elsewhere, and may explain the one Canadian record from British Columbia, Canada, and those elsewhere. It is unfortunate that Leys et al. (2000, 2002) did not have material of X. sonorina for comparison to X. varipuncta in their molecular phylognetic studies.
The nesting biology was described by Williams (1927) and Gerling (1982) [material from Hawaii]. Marshall and Alcock (1981) studied the mating system. Heinrich and Buchmann (1986) studied aspects of thermoregulation.
Distribution in Canada: Sheffield et al. 2020 [BC, introduced].
This species was likely accidentally introduced into Canada (Sheffield et al. 2020), and is only known from the single female specimen from Vancouver, British Columbia (Fig. 1).
References
Ackerman AJ (1916) The carpenter-bees of the United States of the genus Xylocopa. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 24(3): 196-232. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25003718
Gerling D (1982) Nesting biology and flower relationships of Xylocopa sonorina Smith in Hawaii (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 58(4): 336-351.
Hurd PD (1955) The carpenter bees of California. Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 4: 35-72.
Hurd PD, Moure JS (1963) A classification of the large carpenter bees (Xylocopini) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). University of California Publications in Entomology 29: 1-365.
Janzen DH (1964) Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) varipuncta nesting in driftwood in Mexico. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 40(1): 65-66.
Nishida T (1958) Pollination of the passion fruit in Hawaii. Journal of Economic Entomology 51(2): 146-149. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/51.2.146
Patton WH (1879) Notes on three species Xylocopa. The Canadian Entomologist 11(3): 60. https://doi.org/10.4039/Ent1160-3
Sheffield C, Heron J, Musetti L (2020) Xylocopa sonorina Smith, 1874 from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Xylocopinae) with comments on its taxonomy. Biodiversity Data Journal 8: e49918. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.8.e49918
Smith F (1874) Monograph of the genus Xylocopa Latr. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 21(2): 181-206.
Snelling RR (2003) Bees of the Hawaiian Islands, exclusive of Hylaeus (Nesoprosopis) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 76(3): 342-356. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25086121
Timberlake PH (1922) Identify of the Hawaiian carpenter bee of the genus Xylocopa (Hymenoptera). Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 5: 51.
Williams FX (1927) Notes on the habits of the bees and wasps of the Hawaiian Islands. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 6(3): 425-464.
Heinrich B, Buchmann SL (1986) Thermoregulatory physiology of the carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 156: 557-562.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691042
Hurd PD (1978) An annotated catalog of the carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa Latr.) of the Western Hemisphere (Hymenoptera, Anthophoridae). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 116 pp.
Leys R, Cooper SJB, Schwarz MP (2000) Molecular phylogeny of the large carpenter bees, genus Xylocopa (Hymenoptera: Apidae), based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 17(3): 407-418.https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.2000.0851
Leys R, Cooper SJB, Schwarz MP (2002) Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of the large carpenter bees, genus Xylocopa (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 77(2): 249‑266. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1095-8312.2002.00108.x
Marshall LD, Alcock J (1981) The evolution of the mating system of the Carpenter bee Xylocopa varipuncta (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Journal of Zoology: 193(3): 315-324. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1981.tb03447.x
Lieftinck MA (1956) Revision of the carpenter bees (Xylocopa Latreille) of the Moluccan Islands, with notes on other Indo-Australian species. Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 99: 55‑73.
Cockerell TDA (1904) The bees of southern California. V. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 3: 86-90.
Sociality: Variable
Nesting: Carpenter
Pollen Specialization: Polylectic
Wintering Stage: Adult
Crop Preference: Not Available
Non Crop Preference: Not Available
Distribution: British Columbia
Ecozone: Pacific Maritime