Gut bacteria of Xylocopa carpenter bees. Raw sequence reads
Social bees, including bumblebees and honeybees, maintain a socially transmitted core gut microbiome that contributes to digestion and pathogen defense. In contrast, solitary bees, which have fewer opportunities for direct inter-host transmission, typically have less consistent microbiomes dominated by bacteria associated with pollen and food reserves. Carpenter bees (genus Xylocopa) are long-lived bees that are non-social but that often share nesting sites. This project focuses on the gut microbiomes for Xylocopa micans, X. mexicanorum, X. tabaniformis parkinsoniae, and X. virginica, and for five solitary bee species from other genera (Andrena, Habropoda, Megachile, Svastra), sampled in the same localities in central Texas.