Xylocopa (Lestis) aerata

Golden-Green Carpenter Bee at Acton, ACT

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Identification history

	Xylocopa aeratus	4 Nov 2019	MichaelMulvaney
	Xylocopa aeratus	1 Nov 2019	TimL

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User's notes

This female was sighted leading two males in an up-and-down flight around this area for about a minute until she settled on the flower. Both of the males continued to compete with each other and both mated several times with the female. She eventually flew off to land in a bush further away and was followed by the males who again mated with her (final image).

2 comments

michael.batley wrote:

1 Nov 2019

A very nice series of pictures. I have seen the zig-zag mating flight only occasionally and only when more than one male is present, consistent with the hypothesis that it is a behaviour for selecting the fittest male. (Though it is not clear that males ever give up.) Capturing the flight on video has been an elusive goal.

TimL wrote:

2 Nov 2019

Hi Michael. Yesterday there were at least 8 males and even more females sighted on the bushes in this area, at the same time. The population is obviously thriving. There were multiple mating events, which from observation seemed to come in two distinct types. One was that a female collecting pollen was interrupted and chased around the bushes until she landed and submitted to the chasing male (or males), and there were then several mating events with either one or more males before the males moved on. The second type was a female being harassed whilst collecting pollen and then leaving the bush and leading either one or two males in the up-and-down flight pattern for between 30 seconds to a minute and typically remaining in the vicinity of the bush. The up-and-down flight was at a slow speed (compared to their normal very fast flight) and usually with only around half a metre amplitude as they flew along. I noted that with either one or two males in tow the female was typically followed until she stopped that flight pattern and landed. If there were two males then they harassed each other for a bit but both of them mated with the female, and several times. I have other images of some of the mating events and will post them soon. Hope this helps with the knowledge about these bees in the ANBG. Tim

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