Xylocopa aeratus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Xylocopa aerata, the golden-green carpenter bee or green carpenter bee, is one of two species of carpenter bee found only in the conservation areas around Sydney, and in the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales in Australia. Its only other habitat as of 2020 is on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. The species is especially vulnerable to fire, and much of its habitat was burnt during the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.
The bee gets its common name by its habit of burrowing into wood. It is not a social species and does not produce honey, but it is an important pollinator for several species of Australian native plants. It was originally described by F. Smith in 1851 as Lestis aeratus. Its specific epithet is the Latin adjective aerata, meaning "bronzed".
As its name implies, the golden-green carpenter bee is a metallic green in colour, although it may appear purplish or bluish from some angles. A large stocky bee (at nearly 2 cm (0.79 in), one of the largest native bees in southern Australia), it is often heard by its loud low-pitched buzzing while flying between flowers. The male has yellow face markings. The bee does have a sting which is potentially painful... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-Green Carpenter Bee sighting in Sydney on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 269th most-seen of the 742 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Golden-Green Carpenter Bee in Sydney on a given day, against under 5% in November to August, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden-Green Carpenter Bee sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Sydney, in our data
Sydney is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Golden-Green Carpenter Bee sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden-Green Carpenter Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Sydney (31 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
