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Definition 2024


xylocopine

xylocopine

English

Wikispecies

Adjective

xylocopine (not comparable)

  1. (bees) In the subfamily Xylocopinae of carpenter bees.
    • 2009 February 6, Elizabeth Pennisi, “EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY: Agreeing to Disagree”, in Science, volume 323, number 5915, DOI:10.1126/science.323.5915.706, pages 706-708:
      Wilson thinks today's eusocial species likely had ancestors similar to a Japanese stem-nesting xylocopine bee, Ceratina flavipes. Most of the time females make do on their own, but every once in a while, they pair up and divide the labor, setting the stage for a "group" to outdo individuals and for the tendency to form groups to be favored.

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