Xylocopa pubescens
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Xylocopa pubescens is a species of large carpenter bee. Females form nests by excavation with their mandibles, often in dead or soft wood. X. pubescens is commonly found in areas extending from India to Northeast and West Africa. It must reside in these warm climates because it requires a minimum ambient temperature of 18 °C (64 °F) in order to forage.
A common area of study in X. pubescens is its dominance hierarchy and guarding behavior. Colonies start and end with female takeover, either by daughters of the dominant female or by foreign intruders. There is only one reproductively active female in a colony at a time who suppresses the reproduction of other females in the nest. Males hold individual territories which females enter to mate. When an intruder enters another male's territory, the male responds aggressively.
X. pubescens is polylectic, so it forages on many species of plants. It forages on some plants for nectar when preparing bee bread during ontogenesis and forages on others for pollen to feed offspring. Pheromones from Dufour's gland are vital to mark flowers previously visited and also to mark nests so that the foraging bees know where to return. X. pubescens is known to be an effective pollinator, often more effective than honeybees, but it is not commonly used in today's agricultural settings. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
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More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Pubescent Carpenter Bee sighting in Tel Aviv on a given day, based on 97 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 9th most-seen of the 264 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–May, July–September and November
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Pubescent Carpenter Bee in Tel Aviv on a given day, against about 10% in February and June, the lowest months.
6th of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Pubescent Carpenter Bee sightings, Tel Aviv ranks 6th at about 30%. The best odds are in Tunis (Tunisia, about 50%), Athens (Greece, about 40%) and Luxor (Egypt, about 40%).
Same order: Hymenoptera
The closest relatives of the Pubescent Carpenter Bee that you can see in Tel Aviv (order Hymenoptera, Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies) are Oriental Hornet (about 10%), Blue-Eyed Ensign Wasp (about 10%) and Longhorn Crazy Ant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pubescent Carpenter Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Tel Aviv (97 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.
