Xylocopa nigrocincta Smith, 1854, and Xylocopa suspecta Moure & Camargo, 1988, are two nominal species within the subgenus Neoxylocopa and have a sympatric geographic distribution in South America. While X. nigrocincta is recognized by the presence of reddish metasomatic bands, X. suspecta is entirely black. Although morphologically distinct in terms of metasomal band colour, other morphological characters suggest that both species could be the same evolutionary entity and therefore synonymous. The aim of this research was to review both nigrocincta and suspecta morphotypes using an integrative approach (morphological and molecular) to evaluate if they are truly two different evolutionary lineages. Females of both species were obtained from field collections and museums, representing a large part of their morphotype distribution. Additional diagnostic characters of the external morphology were investigated, such as metasomal band colour, metasomal punctuation, wing colours, and apical regions of the basitibial plate. Mitochondrial gene sequences (COI and CytB) were used for phylogenetic reconstructions. Our results showed that both nigrocincta and suspecta morphotypes are undistinguished based on morphology, although the metasomal band colour, together with the geographic distribution, revealed the presence of three distinct morphogroups, including an intermediate one with a variable number of reddish bands. Nonetheless, the three morphogroups are not supported by molecular data and therefore represent intra-specific variations. In conclusion, our results do not support the hypothesis that the two nominal species are distinct evolutionary lineages, and we propose a synonym between X. nigrocincta and X. suspecta.

Xylocopa nigrocincta Smith, 1854 和Xylocopa Suspecta Moure & Camargo, 1988 是Neoxylocopa亚属的两个名义种，在南美洲有同域地理分布。虽然X. nigrocincta是通过微红色交代带的存在来识别的，但X. Shoulda却是全黑色的。尽管在转体带颜色方面形态不同，但其他形态特征表明这两个物种可能是相同的进化实体，因此是同义的。这项研究的目的是使用综合方法（形态学和分子）来回顾 nigrocincta 和可疑形态类型，以评估它们是否确实是两个不同的进化谱系。这两个物种的雌性都是从野外收藏和博物馆获得的，代表了其形态型分布的很大一部分。研究了外部形态的其他诊断特征，例如转体带颜色、转体标点、翼颜色和基底部板的顶端区域。线粒体基因序列（COI和CytB）用于系统发育重建。我们的结果表明，尽管转体带颜色以及地理分布揭示了三个不同形态群的存在，其中包括一个具有数量可变的红色带的中间形态群，但基于形态，nigrocincta 和可疑形态型都没有区别。尽管如此，这三个形态群没有得到分子数据的支持，因此代表了特定内的变异。总之，我们的结果不支持这两个名义物种是不同的进化谱系的假设，并且我们提出了X. nigrocincta和X. Shoulda之间的同义词。