Editing Carpenter bee (section)

== Behavior ==
[[File:Carpenter bee head and compound eyes.jpg|thumb|200px|Carpenter bees have large [[compound eyes]]. Their [[Mandible (insect mouthpart)|mandible]]s, when closed, cover the [[Labrum (arthropod mouthpart)|labrum]].]]
As a subfamily, they nest in a wide range of host plants, but any one species may show definite adaptations or preferences for particular groups of plants. Carpenter bees are traditionally considered solitary bees, though some species have simple social nests in which mothers and daughters may cohabit. Examples of this type of social nesting can be seen in the species ''[[Xylocopa sulcatipes]]''<ref name= Comparative>{{cite journal |last1=Gerling |first1=Dan |author2=Hurd, Paul David |author3=Hefetz, Abraham |year=1983 |title=Comparative behavioral biology of two Middle East species of carpenter bees (''Xylocopa'' Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology |volume=369 |pages=1–33 |hdl=10088/5359 |doi=10.5479/si.00810282.369 }}</ref> and ''[[Xylocopa nasalis]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gerling |first1=D |last2=Velthuis |first2=H H W |last3=Hefetz |first3=A |title=Bionomics of the large carpenter bees of the genus ''Xylocopa'' |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |date=1989 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=163–190 |doi=10.1146/annurev.en.34.010189.001115}}</ref> When females cohabit, a division of labor between them occurs sometimes. In this type of nesting, multiple females either share in the foraging and nest laying, or one female does all the foraging and nest laying, while the other females guard.<ref name=Comparative/>
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| image2            = Marvels of insect life; a popular account of structure and habit (1916) (14593767158).jpg
| footer            = Tunnel entrance, and [[Cross section (geometry)|cross-section]] of the [[brood chamber]]s of ''[[Xylocopa violacea|X. violacea]]''{{efn|Tunnels are excavated in wooden posts, divided into chambers which are provisioned, and an egg is laid in each; each cell initially contains a mass of pollen with the egg, on which the grub will feed; the [[pupa]] (lower left) is seen from back and front. Illustrated by Theo Carreras.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Step |first1=Edward |title=Marvels of insect life; a popular account of structure and habit |date=1915 |publisher=W. Briggs |isbn=978-0-665-76534-6 |page=39 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127977#page/52/mode/1up |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.62864 }}</ref>}} }}
Solitary species differ from social species. Solitary bees tend to be gregarious and often several nests of solitary bees are near each other. In solitary nesting, the founding bee forages, builds cells, lays the eggs, and guards. Normally, only one generation of bees live in the nest.<ref name= Comparative/> ''[[Xylocopa pubescens]]'' is one carpenter bee species that can have both social and solitary nests.<ref name= Comparative/>
Carpenter bees make nests by tunneling into wood, bamboo, and similar hard plant material such as [[Peduncle (botany)|peduncles]], usually dead. They vibrate their bodies as they rasp their [[mandible (arthropod)|mandible]]s against [[hardwood]], each nest having a single entrance which may have many adjacent tunnels. The entrance is often a perfectly circular hole measuring about {{convert|16|mm|abbr=on}} on the underside of a beam, [[Bench (furniture)|bench]], or [[tree limb]]. Carpenter bees do not eat wood; they discard the bits of wood, or reuse particles to build partitions between cells. The tunnel functions as a nursery for brood and storage for the pollen/nectar upon which the brood subsists. The provision masses of some species are among the most complex in shape of any group of bees; whereas most bees fill their brood cells with a soupy mass and others form simple [[spheroid]]al pollen masses, ''Xylocopa'' species form elongated and carefully sculpted masses that have several projections which keep the bulk of the mass from coming into contact with the cell walls, sometimes resembling an irregular [[caltrop]]. The eggs are very large relative to the size of the female, and are some of the largest eggs among all insects.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chapter 40 — Largest Eggs |url=http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/chapter_40.shtml |author=Salvatore Vicidomini |publisher=[[University of Florida]] |date=February 9, 2005 |work=Book of Insect Records}}</ref> Carpenter bees can be timber pests, and cause substantial damage to wood if infestations go undetected for several years.<ref name="ZabelMorrell2012">{{cite book|author1=Robert A. Zabel|author2=Jeffrey J. Morrell|title=Wood Microbiology: Decay and Its Prevention|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5KqLXeoi-wC|date=2 December 2012|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-323-13946-5}}</ref>

Two very different [[mating system]]s appear to be common in carpenter bees, and often this can be determined simply by examining specimens of the males of any given species. Species in which the males have large eyes are characterized by a mating system where the males either search for females by patrolling, or by hovering and waiting for passing females, which they then pursue. In the other mating system, the males often have very small heads, but a large, hypertrophied [[gland]]ular reservoir in the [[mesosoma]] releases [[pheromone]]s into the airstream behind the male while it flies or hovers. The pheromone advertises the presence of the male to females.<ref>{{ cite journal |author1=Minckley, R. L. |author2=Buchmann, S. L. |author3=Wcislo, W. T. | title=Bioassay evidence for a sex attractant pheromone in the large carpenter bee, ''Xylocopa varipuncta'' (Anthophoridae: Hymenoptera) | journal=Journal of Zoology | year=1991 | volume=224 | issue=2 | pages=285–291 | doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1991.tb04805.x }}</ref>

Male bees often are seen hovering near nests and will approach nearby animals. However, males are harmless, since they do not have a stinger.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef611 | author=Potter, M. | publisher=University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Department of Entomology | title=Carpenter Bees | access-date=2012-02-19 }}</ref> Female carpenter bees are capable of stinging, but they are docile and rarely sting unless caught in the hand or otherwise directly provoked.<ref name="entmuseum.ucr.edu"/>

=== Ecological significance ===
In several species, the females live alongside their own daughters or sisters, creating a small social group. They use wood bits to form partitions between the cells in the nest. A few species bore holes in wood dwellings, chewing out burrows with their robust mandibles. Since the tunnels are near the surface, structural damage is generally minor or superficial.<ref>{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Susan|title=Fact Sheet Carpenter Bees|url=http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2074.html|publisher=Ohio State University Extension|access-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> However, carpenter bee nests are attractive to [[woodpecker]]s, which may do further damage by drilling into the wood to feed on the bees or larvae.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why is a woodpecker knocking on the cedar shingles of my house and how do I make it stop?|url=https://extension.unh.edu/blog/why-woodpecker-knocking-cedar-shingles-my-house-and-how-do-i-make-it-stop|last=Erler|first=Emma|date=January 2, 2018|website=NH Extension}}</ref>
[[File:Xylocopa Caerulea.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Xylocopa caerulea]]'', the blue carpenter bee, engaged in [[nectar robbing]]]]
Carpenter bees have short mouthparts and are important [[pollinator]]s on some open-faced or shallow flowers; for some they even are obligate pollinators, for example the maypop (''[[Passiflora incarnata]]'') and ''[[Orphium]]'', which are not pollinated by any other insects. They also are important pollinators of flowers with various forms of lids, such as ''[[Salvia]]'' species and some members of the [[Fabaceae]]. However many carpenter bees "[[nectar robbing|rob]]" [[nectar]] by slitting the sides of flowers with deep [[Corolla (flower)|corollae]].  ''[[Eastern carpenter bee|Xylocopa virginica]]'' is one example of a species with such [[nectar robbing]] behavior.  With their short labia the bees cannot reach the nectar without piercing the long-tubed flowers; they miss contact with the anthers and perform no pollination. In some plants, this reduces fruit and seed production, while others have developed defense mechanisms against nectar robbing. When foraging for pollen from some species with tubular flowers however, the same species of carpenter bees still achieve pollination, if the anthers and stigmata are exposed together.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keasar |first1=Tamar |title=Large carpenter bees as agricultural pollinators |journal=Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |date=2010 |volume=2010 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1155/2010/927463|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Many [[Old World]] carpenter bees have a special pouch-like structure on the inside of their first [[metasoma]]l [[tergite]] called the [[acarinarium]] where certain [[mite]]s (''[[Dinogamasus]]'' species) reside as [[commensalism|commensals]] or symbionts. The exact nature of the relationship is not fully understood, though in other bees that carry mites, they are beneficial, feeding either on [[fungi]] in the nest, or on other harmful mites.