Xylocopa (Xylomelissa) lugubris Gerstäcker 1857

A small black Xylocopa species with white-griseous setae laterally and often ventrally on the abdomen. Body length 12-15 mm.
This species shows in both sexes considerable variation in the colour of pubescence.

Male: Pubescence either all black or with head, thorax, femora and tibiae pale brown or black and brown, all tarsi orange, abdomen above and below black, pale brown or white. Clypeus pale yellow.
Female: Pubescence mostly black, ventrolateral parts of abdomen black or white, middle and hind tarsi black, yellow or orange.

Distribution: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Original description in:
Gerstäcker, C.E.A. 1857. Diagnosen der von Peters in Mossambique gesammelten Käfer und Hymenoptera (Apiariae, Vespariae). Bericht über die Verhandlungen der Klg. Sächsischen Gesellschaft (Akademie) der Wissenschaften zu Berlin.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/151018
Redescription and illustration in Peters Reise: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103636#page/475/mode/1up

Type locality: Tette, Mozambique