Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) grisescens Lepeletier 1841: 178–179

Mawdsley, Jonathan R., 2018, New records and diagnostic notes on large carpenter bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: genus Xylocopa Latreille), from the Amazon River basin of South America, Insecta Mundi 631, pp. 1-15 : 5

Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) grisescens Lepeletier 1841: 178–179

Fig. 8

Known distribution. Brazil (Alagoas, Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, São Paulo, Sergipe) and Paraguay ( Hurd 1978: 61). Type locality: “Patrie inconnue [unknown locality]” ( Lepeletier 1841: 179).

Material examined. Brazil: Pará: Conceição do Araguaia, VII.1959, M. Alvarenga (1 ♀) , Santarém, VII.1957, M. Silva (1 ♀) , Santarém, IX.1955, M. Alvarenga (1 ♀) , X.1955, M. Alvarenga (1 ♀) .

Notes. Females of this species can be easily separated from all other species of subgenus Neoxylocopa by the combination of yellow pubescence on the mesosoma and the massive body size, with overall body length in the specimens examined between 21.8 and 29.6 mm. In the Amazon basin, X. (N.) cearensis is the only species whose females are similar in coloration to those of X. (N.) grisescens , but females of X. (N.) cearensis are much smaller, with overall body length between 16.4 and 17.6 mm.

Figures

Figures 1–13. Dorsal habitus photographs of pinned, preserved specimens of females of Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) species from the Amazon River basin, from the USNM collection. 1) X. (N.) aeneipennis. 2) X. (N.) amazonica. 3) X. (N.) aurulenta. 4) X. (N.) carbonaria. 5) X. (N.) cearensis. 6) X. (N.) fimbriata. 7) X. (N.) frontalis. 8) X. (N.) grisescens. 9) X. (N.) hirsutissima. 10) X. (N.) orthogonaspis. 11) X. (N.) similis. 12) X. (N.) suspecta. 13) X. (N.) tegulata.