Nests can be found in dead and soft wood, as well as the wood of some man-made buildings.
X. pubescens makes its nest in dead tree trunks, sticks, canes, branches, or soft wood such as eucalyptus.
These nests are sinuous, branched nest typified by short tunnels.
Entrance holes are 1.1–1.3 cm diameter; a widened entryway leads into a chamber that is 1.8–1.2 cm.
Tunnels 1.4–1.8 cm in diameter start at the chamber, follow grain, and are 5–7 cm long, consisting of few cells each.
Females enlarge nests by digging new tunnels when progeny are in the late larval or pupal stages.
Progeny often make their own tunnels in the same tunnel complex as the mother, branching off from the common chamber with the mother’s exit hole as the only access to outside.
Females can extend tunnels or excavate new nests each nesting cycle.
They occasionally widen current tunnels 0.5–1.0 mm each cycle.
The excavating of the nests is done with mandibles.
Nests can be found in dead and soft wood, as well as the wood of some man-made buildings. X. pubescens makes its nest in dead tree trunks, sticks, canes, branches, or soft wood such as eucalyptus. These nests are sinuous, branched nest typified by short tunnels. Entrance holes are 1.1–1.3 cm diameter; a widened entryway leads into a chamber that is 1.8–1.2 cm. Tunnels 1.4–1.8 cm in diameter start at the chamber, follow grain, and are 5–7 cm long, consisting of few cells each. Females enlarge nests by digging new tunnels when progeny are in the late larval or pupal stages. Progeny often make their own tunnels in the same tunnel complex as the mother, branching off from the common chamber with the mother’s exit hole as the only access to outside. Females can extend tunnels or excavate new nests each nesting cycle. They occasionally widen current tunnels 0.5–1.0 mm each cycle. The excavating of the nests is done with mandibles.
Xylocopa pubescens