help identifying large flying blue-winged bee/beetle

Caroline London · #1 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 04:32 PM

It is mid July in London and i have just seen a large - 2.0-2.5cm body length - flying insect that looked more Mediterranean to me than British. It was like a shiny bodied giant bee - so could be a beetle or bee. It was feeding on the nectar of the flowers on a "Roman bean". Its body was metallic black & it had translucent vivid royal blue wings. It had a very loud buzz as it flew. My only photos are very poor - sorry - taken with mobile phone. Very blurry but you can get a feel for the colour. Does anyone know what this is and is it a new-comer to the UK?

squishy · #2 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 04:51 PM

thats something to record! it looks like Xylocopa violacea.

this has only recently been recorded resident in britain!

i think eucera is going to like this! he found the first confirmed case of this bee over wintering in britain from a thread on this forum!

eucera · #3 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 04:55 PM

This looks like it is a Carpenter bee (Xylocopa sp.). It is clearly not possible to sure or to determine to species level. Did it have a yellowish collar (the pics seem to show one)?

Carpenter bees are not a regular part of the UK bee fauna, but we do get reports every year - most of which are almost certainly accidental imports with timber.

Could you provide some more information about this one? Where, precisely, was it found?

Intrigued, Stuart

squishy · #4 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 04:57 PM

what other species are there that can be found in the UK, eucera?

Caroline London · #5 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 05:12 PM

Hello Eucera, Thanks for your enthusiasm - I was very excited to see this even though I am a lay-person. I thought it was unusual. I have now googled Xylocopa violacea and I am 99.9% certain this is what it is. It was in my front garden in London N1. I have a large lavender bush there which has attracted lots of bumble bees this year and I had stopped to look at these. I then noticed this huge insect which dwarfed the bumble bees. It by contrast was feeding off the nectar from my "Roman beans" and it spurned the lavender completely. It flew to and looked at the lavender but returned to the bean flowers. I only had my mobile to hand and as soon as I realised my photos were poor I went straight back out but cd not see it any longer. Can't give much more info. I shall of course keep looking but will probably not be lucky again. Do they arrive in timber imports or do they fly over here? How far North was the last sighting? Would be great to set a new record for northerly sightings!

eucera · #6 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 05:18 PM

Hi Catherine

We can't be sure this is X. violacea (females are inseparable from X. valga except with microscopic examination). I am interested in the apparent yellow collar that I can see on the pics? Is this real, or my imagination?

The records of X. violacea are very scattered and show very little pattern. A few on the south coast (possibly getting here under their own steam), but others from Cheshire and Leicestershire. Accidental introductions in timber would be a quite likely explanation of many of the individuals noted.

Stuart

Caroline London · #7 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 05:40 PM

A website of Cretan wildlife has a Xylocopa violacea which looks very similar if not identical. Looking through my hastily taken photos it looks to me as though it has a yellow collar. I shall try loading some of the other pics to see if this helps.

Caroline London · #8 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 05:44 PM

Here are uncropped pics. They may be easier to look at. Again, apologies for chronic quality.

eucera · #9 (**permalink**) 13-07-2009, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caroline London

A website of Cretan wildlife has a Xylocopa violacea which looks very similar if not identical. Looking through my hastily taken photos it looks to me as though it has a yellow collar. I shall try loading some of the other pics to see if this helps.

There are 3 species of Xylocopa in Crete: X. violacea, X. valga and the much smaller (and distinctive) X. iris.

Males of X. valga and X. violacea are easily separated on antennal characters (in X. violacea males the pre-apical segments are reddish, and in X. valga they are black). Females are absolutely inseparable without microscopic scrutiny (one needs to look at the hind basitibial plate, normally covered with the black hairs of the scopa).

Neither X. violacea nor X. valga has a yellow collar (hence my question).

Cheers, Stuart