Xylocopa latipes
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Xylocopa latipes, the broad-handed carpenter bee, is a species of carpenter bee widely dispersed throughout Southeast Asia. This bee inhabits forests and constructs nests by burrowing into wood. It often makes long deep tunnels in wooden rafters, fallen trees, telephone poles, etc., but is not found in living trees.
It was first described by the English entomologist, Dru Drury in 1773, and is a member of the group of carpenter bees (Family Apidae). The broad-handed carpenter bee is a very large, robust, solitary bee. It is shiny, fully black in colour with fuscous metallic blue-green or purple wings in sunlight. The broad-handed carpenter bee is among the largest Xylocopa known and among the largest bees of the world (though it is not the world's largest, that title belongs to another Southeast Asian bee, the Indonesian Megachile pluto). It has a loud and distinctive, low-pitched buzzing that can be heard as it flies between flowers or perches. In urban areas, these bees can become attached to certain perches, returning to them day after day, even after several generations.
Carpenter bees mate on-the-wing. Males grasp the females in flight and place their front or middle... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 2 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 7 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 8 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 9 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 10 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuching | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 2 | Kuala Lumpur | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Surakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 5 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 6 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Johor Bahru | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 8 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 9 | Bandung | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Broad-Handed Carpenter Bee sighting in Sepilok on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 29th most-seen of the 87 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Broad-Handed Carpenter Bee in Sepilok on a given day, against under 5% in December to April, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Broad-Handed Carpenter Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Broad-Handed Carpenter Bee sightings, Sepilok ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Bako National Park (Malaysia, about 30%), Danum Valley Conservation Area (Malaysia, about 30%) and Gunung Leuser National Park (Indonesia, about 30%).
Same family: Apidae
The closest relatives of the Broad-Handed Carpenter Bee that you can see in Sepilok (family Apidae, Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, and Allies) are Homotrigona binghami (about 10%) and Giant Honey Bee (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Broad-Handed Carpenter Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Sepilok (15 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
