Volume 26, Plate XXI / Entomology (Insects)

Xylocopa Teredo & X. Corniger

1. Xylocopa Teredo. Xylocopa Teredo, whose habits were recorded by Lansdowne Guilding, lodges in dead tree trunks, boring horizontally and forming numerous disordered longitudinal cells, each filled with pollen and honey and an egg, the larva apodal, naked, and whitish. The sexes differ greatly: the male is entirely tawny-yellow above and blackish beneath with a slender oblong form, while the deep black female has broad brassy purple-reflecting wings, a very large head, and an orbicular thorax, appearing short and massive.
2. Xylocopa Corniger. Xylocopa Corniger is a very large, nondescript, and unique species from the Rev. Hope’s collection, named for two short strong horns upon the back of the head, a character unknown elsewhere in the genus. It is entirely black and shining, the upper thorax and abdomen hairless, the long depressed abdomen fringed with black hairs and the glossy wings violet-blue at the base shading to coppery brown at the tips; its locality is probably Africa.