| Frieseomelitta silvestrii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | Frieseomelitta |
| Species: | F. silvestrii |
| Binomial name | |
| Frieseomelitta silvestrii (Friese, 1902) | |
| Subspecies | |
See text | |
Frieseomelitta silvestrii is a stingless bee species in the genus Frieseomelitta found in Brazil.
Frieseomelitta silvestrii languida is a subspecies making use of resin and of the chemical compound totarol. [1]
Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees, carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, and a number of other less widely known groups. Many are valuable pollinators in natural habitats and for agricultural crops.
Stingless bees (SB), sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees (from about 462 to 552 described species), comprising the tribe Meliponini (or subtribe Meliponina according to other authors). They belong in the family Apidae (subfamily Apinae), and are closely related to common honey bees (HB, tribe Apini), orchid bees (tribe Euglossini), and bumblebees (tribe Bombini). These four bee tribes belong to the corbiculate bees monophyletic group. Meliponines have stingers, but they are highly reduced and cannot be used for defense, though these bees exhibit other defensive behaviors and mechanisms. Meliponines are not the only type of bee incapable of stinging: all male bees and many female bees of several other families, such as Andrenidae and Megachilidae (tribe Dioxyini), also cannot sting.
Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by aphids, some scale insects, and many other true bugs and some other insects as they feed on plant sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the anus of the insects, allowing them to rapidly process the large volume of sap required to extract essential nutrients present at low concentrations. Honeydew is particularly common as a secretion in hemipteran insects and is often the basis for trophobiosis. Some caterpillars of Lycaenidae butterflies and some moths also produce honeydew. In addition to various sugars, honeydew contains small amounts of amino acids, other organic compounds, and inorganic salts with its precise makeup affected by factors such as insect species, host plant species, and whether a symbiotic organism is present.
The Apinae are the subfamily that includes the majority of bees in the family Apidae. It includes the familiar "corbiculate" bees—bumblebees, honey bees, orchid bees, stingless bees, Africanized bees, and the extinct genus Euglossopteryx. It also includes all but two of the groups that were previously classified in the family Anthophoridae.
Schwarziana quadripunctata is a small, stingless bee found in a stretch of the South American Amazon from Goiás, Brazil, through Paraguay, to Misiones, Argentina. This highly eusocial insect constructs earthen nests in the subterranean level of the subtropical environment, an unusual feature among other stingless bees. The species ranges in sizes from 6.0 to 7.5 millimetres and feeds on a diverse diet of flowering plants found abundantly on the forest floor, including guacatonga and the mistletoe species Struthanthus concinnus.
Trigona is one of the largest genera of stingless bees, comprising about 32 species, exclusively occurring in the New World, and formerly including many more subgenera than the present assemblage; many of these former subgenera have been elevated to generic status.
Frieseomelitta is a stingless bee (Meliponini) genus in the family Apidae. It currently contains about 16 described species:
Tetragonula carbonaria is a stingless bee, endemic to the north-east coast of Australia. Its common name is sugarbag bee. They are also occasionally referred to as bush bees. The bee is known to pollinate orchid species, such as Dendrobium lichenastrum, D. toressae, and D. speciosum. It has been identified as an insect that collects pollen from the cycad Cycas media. They are also known for their small body size, reduced wing venation, and highly developed social structure comparable to honey bees.
Trigona spinipes is a species of stingless bee. It occurs in Brazil, where it is called arapuá, aripuá, irapuá, japurá or abelha-cachorro ("dog-bee"). The species name means "spiny feet" in Latin. Trigona spinipes builds its nest on trees, out of mud, resin, wax, and assorted debris, including dung. Therefore, its honey is not fit for consumption, even though it is reputed to be of good quality by itself, and is used in folk medicine. Colonies may have from 5,000 to over 100,000 workers.
Heinrich Friedrich August Karl Ludwig Friese was a German biologist and entomologist, a specialist of bees (melittologist). Between 1883 and 1939, he described 1,989 new species and 564 new varieties or subspecies of insects, 99% of which were bees.
Tetragonisca angustula is a small eusocial stingless bee found in México, Central and South America. It is known by a variety of names in different regions. A subspecies, Tetragonisca angustula fiebrigi, occupies different areas in South America and has a slightly different coloration.
The Indian stingless bee or dammar bee, Tetragonula iridipennis, is a species of bee belonging to the family Apidae, subfamily Apinae. It was first described by Frederick Smith in 1854 who found the species in what is now the island of Sri Lanka. Many older references erroneously placed this species in Melipona, an unrelated genus from the New World, and until recently it was placed in Trigona, therefore still often mistakenly referred to as Trigona iridipennis. For centuries, colonies of T. iridipennis have been kept in objects such as clay pots so that their highly prized medicinal honey can be utilized.
Plebeia remota is a species of stingless bee that is in the family Apidae and tribe Meliponini. Bees of the species are normally found in a few states in southern Brazil and their nests can be found in tree cavities. Depending on the region, P. remota may have a different morphology and exhibit different behaviors. The bee's diet consists of nectar and pollen that are collected intensely from a few sources. Researchers have conducted a multitude of studies analyzing the changes that occur in the colony during reproductive diapause and what happens during the provisioning and oviposition process or POP.
Trigona corvina is a species of stingless bee that lives primarily in Central and South America. In Panama, they are sometimes known as zagañas. They live in protective nests high in the trees, but they can be extremely aggressive and territorial over their resources. They use their pheromones to protect their food sources and to signal their location to nest mates. This black stingless bees of the tribe Meliponini can be parasitic toward citrus trees but also helpful for crop pollination.
Melipona quadrifasciata is a species of eusocial, stingless bee of the order Hymenoptera. It is native to the southeastern coastal states of Brazil, where it is more commonly known as mandaçaia, which means "beautiful guard," as there is always a bee at the narrow entrance of the nest. M. quadrifasciata constructs mud hives in the hollows of trees to create thin passages that only allow one bee to pass at a time. Because they are stingless bees, M. quadrifasciata is often used as pollinators in greenhouses, outperforming honey bees in efficiency and leading to overall larger yields of fruits that were heavier, larger, and contained more seeds.
Tetragonula hockingsi is a small stingless bee native to Australia. It is found primarily in Queensland. The colonies can get quite large, with up to 10,000 workers and a single queen. Workers of Tetragonula hockingsi have been observed in fatal fights with other Tetragonula species, where the worker bees risk their lives for the potential benefit of scarce resources.
Tetragonula is a genus of stingless bees. In 1961, Brazilian bee expert J.S. Moure first proposed the genus name Tetragonula to improve the classification system by dividing the large genus Trigona stingless bees into 9 smaller groups. About 30 stingless bee species formerly placed in the genus Trigona are now placed in the genus Tetragonula. These bees are found in Oceania, in countries such as Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, and the Solomon Islands. The most recent tabulation of species listed 31 species.
Austroplebeia is a stingless bee (Meliponini) genus in the family Apidae. The genus was erected by Jesus Santiago Moure in 1961. The genus comprises five described species endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Austroplebeia are more closely related to the African stingless bees than rest of the species found in Asia and Australia.
Austroplebeia australis is a stingless bee species in the tribe Meliponini first validly described by Heinrich Friese in 1898. Within Australia, they are occasionally referred to as bush bees.
Frieseomelitta varia, commonly known as the abelha marmelada-amarela, is a species of eusocial stingless bee in the family Apidae and tribe Meliponini. F. varia is native to Brazil.