Xylocopa violacea or valga ? - a photo on Flickriver

a wasp? a bee? something entirely different?

sometimes (not often) two of them can be seen to perform
quite a dance for approx. 10-20 sec. at 2-3 meters overhead,
seemingly clasped "face-to-face" by their feet, and somersaulting
through air at a blinding speed (mating ?, but see below!), in a fashion similar to some species of eagle,

magma_photography (www.pbase.com/magma_photography/profile) has kindly pointed me up to the Xylocopinae family,

I'm not entomologist of course, thus out of multitude of species in the Xylocopinae, perhaps a most probable one seems to me the Xylocopa violacea, or perhaps it's close kin, Xylocopa valga - violet-winged carpenter bee (which btw. quite recently arrived even at British soil - global warming? - in Leicestershire where it must have spent winter, perhaps imported in some timber transport from the South, and then multiplied in Spring 2007). Supposedly quite common in Italy, Spain, even in France, relatively rare in Germany but spotted there as well, however, already endemic in Poland (last sighting in mid 1930' - however, those reports are dated, and with recent heat surges moving North a bit more every year we can expect to see a lot of "exotic" species appearing in unexpected places, like Leicestershire which is truly mid-England).

If so, then this is female of the species, and hence a strange air dance described was performed by two females!!! I'm very curious about this dancing, which however was so rapid, that almost impossible to follow, yet alone to photograph - any explanations would be highly welcome (and to aid you at field - they seem to prefer [if the attribution is correct of course] rater few plant species: Lathyrus odoratus, Glicyne max, Acanthus spinosus, Dalea sp, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Echium vulgare)

Taken in: France / Île-de-France / Paris (show map)

Taken on: May 18, 2007

Tags:

NaturesFinest

insects

Xylocopa valga ?

Xylocopa violacela ?

carpenter bee

France

giant black bee

Xylocopa violacea

Xylocopa

blue-winged bee

EF 70-300IS USM (non DO)

not a bumblebee

quasi bombus

abeille charpentière

Holzbiene

Blauwzwarte Houtbij

hand held

I always shoot RAW

Paris « less

Sets appears in: • Macros and close-ups • wildlife & macro

Groups appears in: • Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants of Europe (NO Honey Bees PLEASE) • Natures Finest (Invited Images Only)

Camera: Canon EOS 400D, f/16.0, 1/100 sec, 300mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 400D
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	300mm
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Unknown (-1)
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Show full info

Stats: 8,122 views / 26 comments

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