Longest hymenopteran eggs

The longest hymenopteran eggs are those laid by Xylocopa auripennis, a species of carpenter bee native to Sri Lanka. Some eggs of this species measure up to 16.5 mm long, but are only about 3 mm wide. Known as carpenter bees because they generally build their nests in burrows in dead wood or structural timbers, there are at least 500 species within the genus Xylocopa, many of which are all-black in colour and virtually indistinguishable from one another externally, except for minute variations in their genitalia.