Editing Carpenter bee (section)

{{Short description|Common name for a genus of bees}}
{{About|large carpenter bees|small bees sometimes referred to as "small carpenter bees"|Ceratina}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name=Carpenter bees
| image=Southern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa micans) ♀ (7995162522).jpg
| image2=BumbleBee1.ogg
| image2_caption = Foraging female ''[[Xylocopa micans|X. micans]]'' and sounds emitted from a nest of ''[[Xylocopa pubescens|X. pubescens]]''
| taxon=Xylocopa
| display_parents=3
| authority=[[Pierre André Latreille|Latreille]], 1802
| type_species=''[[Xylocopa violacea]]''
| type_species_authority=[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| subdivision_ranks=Species
| subdivision=See text
}}

'''Carpenter bees''' are species in the genus '''''Xylocopa''''' of the subfamily [[Xylocopinae]]. The genus includes some 500 [[bee]]s in 31 subgenera.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://archive.org/details/cladisticanalysi00minc/page/n0 | author=Minckley, R. L. | year=1998 | title=A cladistic analysis and classification of the subgenera and genera of the large carpenter bees, tribe Xylocopini (Hymenoptera: Apidae) | journal=Scientific Papers, Natural History Museum, University of Kansas | volume=9 | pages=1–47 | doi=10.5962/bhl.title.16168 | doi-access=free | hdl=1808/25427 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> The common name "carpenter bee" derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant material such as dead wood or [[bamboo]]. The main exceptions are species in the subgenus ''[[Proxylocopa]]'', which dig nesting tunnels in suitable soil.