Species Xylocopa (Lestis) aerata (Smith, 1851)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Lestis aeratus Smith, F. 1851. Notes on the habits of Australian Hymenoptera. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London ns 1: 179-181, pl. xvi figs 4, 5 [Date published 31/12/1851] [180].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) OUM 2♀,3♂, Australia.

Generic Combinations

• Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus (Smith, 1851). —
  Leys, R. 2000. A revision of the Australian carpenter bees, genus Xylocopa Latreille, subgenera Koptortosoma Griboda and Lestis Lepeletier & Serville (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 14: 115-136 [117]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: mellivore, volant.

Larva: sedentary.

Extra Ecological Information

Primitively social, nesting in dead, dry flowering stalks (Xanthorrhoea Sm. [Xanthorrhoeaceae]), dead wood of Banksia and Melaleuca [Proteaceae], twigs (Casuarina L. [Casuarinaceae]), each larva in individual, mass-provisioned cell, adults hibernate communally. flower visiting record: Leptospermum Forster & G.Forster [Myrtaceae], Leucopogon R.Br. [Epacridaceae].

General References

Cockerell, T.D.A. 1930. The bees of Australia. The Australian Zoologist 6: 137-156, 205-236 [Date published 31/12/1930] (distribution)

Dollin, A., Batley, M., Robinson, M. & Faulkner, B. 2000. Native Bees of the Sydney Region. A Field Guide. North Richmond, NSW : Australian Native Bee Research Centre 70 pp. [58]

Houston, T.F. 1992. Biological observations of the Australian green carpenter bees, genus Lestis (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae: Xylocopini). Records of the Western Australian Museum 15: 785-798 [Date published 31/12/1992] (biology)

Leys, R. 2000. Mate locating strategies of the green carpenter bees Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus and X. (L.) bombylans. Journal of Zoology, London 252: 453-462

Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362 [Date published 31/12/1965] [227] (illustration)

Michener, C.D. & Brooks, R.W. 1984. A comparative study of the glossae of bees (Apoidea). Contributions of the American Entomological Institute 22: 1-73 [Date published 31/12/1984] (glossa)

Rayment, T. 1935. A Cluster of Bees. Sixty essays on the life-histories of Australian bees, with specific descriptions of over 100 new species, and an introduction by Professor E.F. Phillips, D.Ph., Cornell University, U.S.A. Sydney : Endeavour Press. 752 pp. (biology)

Rayment, T. 1953. Bees of the Portland District. Victoria : Portland Field Naturalist's Club 39 pp. [Date published 31/12/1953] (as Lestis aerata, unnecessary emendation)

Smith, F. 1854. Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Part II. Apidae. London : British Museum pp. 199-465. [Date published 31/12/1854] (record from TAS)

Steen, Z. & Schwarz, M.P. 2000. Nesting and life cycle of the Australian green carpenter bees Xylocopa (Lestis) aeratus Smith and Xylocopa (Lestis) bombylans (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Xylocopinae). Australian Journal of Entomology 39(4): 291-300 [291] (biology)

Winston, M. L. 1979. The proboscis of the long-tongued bees: a comparative study. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 51: 631-667 [Date published 31/12/1979] (proboscis)

History of changes