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Xylocopa darwini, the Galápagos carpenter bee, is one of only three species of bees found in the Galápagos Islands, to which it is endemic. The leaf-cutter bee and the wool carder bee are introduced, making the Galápagos carpenter bee the only native species. The female is all black, whereas the male has a black abdomen and is yellow-brown elsewhere.

These insects serve an important role as the predominant pollinators of native and introduced plants on the islands. They compete for food with other pollinators including birds, lizards, and other insects. They are the most generalized pollinators in the Galápagos ecosystem, meaning that they consume nectar and pollen from the widest array of different flowers, adding up to at least 84 flowering species. Their niche as pollinators is vital to the stability of plant populations, even though most well documented plant species on the archipelago are capable of self-pollination.

Galapagos carpenter bees can be found on 9 out of the 12 largest islands, but not all of the islands in the archipelago. These include Isabela, San Cristóbal, Santa Cruz, Santiago, Fernandina, Floreana, Genovesa, Santa Fe, and Española. Females form nests by boring holes into the branches and trunks of trees.