In Minnesota, there is one described species within the genus Xylocopa —Xylocopa virginica. It is not known whether there are established populations of Xylocopa virginica from a range expansion into Minnesota or if nests in wood were transported into the state by human means. One female was collected in 1969 and a second in 2016 during surveys. In 2025, a male was photographed in Ramsey County. In the past fifteen years, Xylocopa virginica has expanded its eastern United States range northward into southern Ontario and northwest into Wisconsin. This large (bumble bee-like) carpenter bee nests in aboveground cavities in wood excavated by females. Females often reuse or expand existing nests in lieu of excavating new cavities. 

Xylocopa virginica ranges from 17-23 mm (0.67-0.91") in length. It has a broad black head, dark wings, and yellow or amber hairs on the thorax and first abdominal segment (tergite). The rest of the abdomen is black, shiny, and relatively hairless. Males have a cream or light yellow clypeus and bulging gray-green compound eyes. Females have dark compound eyes and collect pollen on hairs on the hind leg tibia and basitarsus. This bee species has a very long forewing marginal cell and a hind wind jugal lobe.