Fig 1.
Upper image: A perching male X. tenuiscapa. (Photo courtesy: U.V. Rane). Lower images, left: sketch of a perching male X. tenuiscapa; note the spread wings. Right: resting X. tenuiscapa in which the wings are not spread (modified from [50]).
Fig 2.
Seasonal changes in males perching outside nests and female foragers returning to nests.
Number of males perching outside nest sites (n = 7) peaked in February 2006 and March 2007 (A, B) when the number of unmated females was high. The number of females returning to the nest with pollen (C, D) was highest in May in 2006 (n = 251 trips from 7 nests) and 2007 (n = 206 trips from 6 nests).
Fig 3.
Response of X. tenuiscapa males to stones of different sizes.
Stones of known size were thrown by hand; the smallest distance to the perching male was determined to the nearest ±20 cm and the stone’s angular extent was calculated. Frontal: stone passed in front of the male; caudal: stone passed caudally to the male; all: average of all males, irrespective of stone path.
Fig 4.
Half heads of X. tenuiscapa, X. tranquebarica and X. leucothorax, from top to bottom, with left column: males; right column: females.
Table 1.
Comparison of optical parameters in male and female carpenter bees.
Optical parameters were estimated for two males and 3–4 females (data from [37, 38]) of the three species Xylocopa (mean ± sd). Intertegular width refers to the distance between the two wing bases and is a proxy for body size. The number of facets was determined in one eye of a male and a female of each species. Five measurements of facet diameters per bee were made.
Fig 5.
Eye maps of male and female X. tenuiscapa, showing interommatidial angles (ΔΦ), facet diameters (D) and eye parameters (p).
Female maps are taken from our earlier study [38].