page_title: Xylocopa pubescens
section_title: Plants by region
hierarchical_section_title: Xylocopa pubescens / Behavior / Foraging behavior / Plant visitation / Plants by region
caption_attribution_description: Calotropis procera, inflorescence, Muscat, Oman
context_page_description: 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 degrees Celsius 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.
context_section_description: In India plants visited by X. pubescens for pollen are Cochlospermum religiosum, as well as Peltophorum, Cassia and Solanum species. Those visited for nectar include Calotropis, Bauhinia, Crotalaria, Anisomeles, and Gmelina species and some other plants.
  In the Mediterranean the most common plants visited by X. pubescens for both pollen and nectar are Helianthus annuus, Parkinsonia aculeate, Luffa aegyptiaca, as well as Lonicera species.
  In Israel, the ranges of X. pubescens and X. sulcatipes overlap, leading to competition between the two species for plants to forage on. Both species visit Calotropis procera only for nectar, Retama raetam for both pollen and nectar, and Lucaena only for pollen. Because X. pubescens has a minimum ambient temperature for activity of about 18 degrees Celsius while X. sulcatipes has a minimum ambient temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, X. pubescens can begin foraging earlier in the day than X. sulcatipes. This allows X. pubescens to get to flowers first, but then after X. sulcatipes begins foraging, it becomes the dominant bee. The bees can recognize when a flower has been previously visited by a bee of either species, and will proceed to avoid that flower.
caption: Calotropis procera
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