Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) frontalis ( Olivier 1789: 64 )

Mawdsley, Jonathan R., 2018, New records and diagnostic notes on large carpenter bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: genus Xylocopa Latreille), from the Amazon River basin of South America, Insecta Mundi 631, pp. 1-15 : 5

Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) frontalis ( Olivier 1789: 64)

Fig. 7

Known distribution. Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil (Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Guanabara, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Branco, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Santa Catarina, São Paulo), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, México (Chiapas, Veracruz), Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, Uruguay, Venezuela ( Hurd 1978: 79-80). Type locality: “Cayenne” ( Olivier 1789: 64).

Material examined. Brazil: Pará: Belém (1 male) , Óbidos (1 ♀, 1 ♂) , Pará (7 ♀, 1 ♂) ; Rondônia: Porto Velho (1 ♀), Porto Velho-Abunã Road km 65 (1 ♀). Peru: Huánuco: Tingo María (1 ♀). Venezuela: Ama- zonas, Cerro de la Neblina (1 ♀) .

Notes. Females of this species can be readily recognized by the unique transverse carina on the frons which has the median ocellus embedded in the center of the transverse carina. This species is an important pollinator of many tropical plant species ( Hurd 1978).

Figures

Figures 1–13. Dorsal habitus photographs of pinned, preserved specimens of females of Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) species from the Amazon River basin, from the USNM collection. 1) X. (N.) aeneipennis. 2) X. (N.) amazonica. 3) X. (N.) aurulenta. 4) X. (N.) carbonaria. 5) X. (N.) cearensis. 6) X. (N.) fimbriata. 7) X. (N.) frontalis. 8) X. (N.) grisescens. 9) X. (N.) hirsutissima. 10) X. (N.) orthogonaspis. 11) X. (N.) similis. 12) X. (N.) suspecta. 13) X. (N.) tegulata.