Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are currently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some species – including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees – live socially in colonies while most species (>90%) – including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees – are solitary.
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.
Vulture bees, also known as carrion bees, are a small group of three closely related South American stingless bee species in the genus Trigona which feed on rotting meat. Some vulture bees produce a substance similar to royal jelly which is not derived from nectar, but rather from protein-rich secretions of the bees' hypopharyngeal glands. These secretions are likely derived from the bees' diet, which consists of carrion eaten outside the nest, and resulted in the belief that they produce what is known as "meat honey". This unusual behavior was only discovered in 1982, nearly two centuries after the bees were first classified.
Trigona hypogea is a species of stingless bee from the Neotropics; it is unusual in that it is one of only three known species of bee that exclusively uses carrion as a protein source, rather than pollen, earning it the nickname "vulture bee".
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.
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.
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.
Nannotrigona testaceicornis is a eusocial stingless bee species of the order Hymenoptera and the genus Nannotrigona. Its local common name is abelhas iraí. This species has a large geographic distribution and occupies different biomes, including urban areas, around Neotropical America. The bees of this species nest in trees or artificial cavities because of this broad distribution. N. testaceicornis is important for agriculture because it will pollinate a vast number of plant species year round.
Scaptotrigona postica is a species of stingless bee that lives mainly in Brazil. It is a eusocial bee in the tribe Meliponini. S. postica is one of 25 species in the genus Scaptotrigona and is a critical pollinator of the tropical rain forests of Brazil. They construct their nests in hollowed sections of tree trunks, allowing for effective guarding at the nest entrance. This species shows colony structure similar to most members of the Meliponini tribe with three roles within the colony: queen, worker, and male. S. postica individuals have different forms of communication from cuticular hydrocarbons to pheromones and scent trails. Communication is especially useful during worker foraging for nectar and pollen through the Brazilian tropical rain forests. S. postica is a very important pollinator of the Brazilian tropical rain forests and is widely appreciated for its honey. Stingless bees account for approximately 30% of all pollination of the Brazilian Caatinga and Pantanal ecosystems and up to 90% of the pollination for many species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and the Amazon.
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.
Melipona scutellaris is a eusocial stingless bee species of the order Hymenoptera and the genus Melipona. It is considered to be the reared Melipona species with the largest distribution in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, with records from Rio Grande do Norte down to Bahia. Its common name, Uruçu, comes from the Tupi "eiru su", which in this indigenous language means "big bee". Their honey is highly desirable and the materials they create for nests have been proven to be a promising source of antibiofilm agents and to present selectivity against human cancer cell lines at low concentrations compared to normal cells.
Trigona fuscipennis is a stingless bee species that originates in Mexico but is also found in Central and South America. They are an advanced eusocial group of bees and play a key role as pollinators in wet rainforests. The species has many common names, including mapaitero, sanharó, abelha-brava, xnuk, k'uris-kab, enreda, corta-cabelo, currunchos, zagaño, and enredapelos.
Trigona fulviventris, known by the common names culo-de-vaca, culo-de-señora, mu'ul-kab, culo-de-buey, and culo-de-vieja, is a species of stingless bee found in Mexico and neotropical regions of Central and South America. It is one of the largest and most widespread bees of its genus. They exhibit complex foraging behaviors by integrating spatio-temporal learning and flower scents. T. fulviventris has traditionally been observed to abstain from aggressive behavior with other species; however, more recent analyses have shown that T. fulviventris emit pheromones that act as attack signals particularly when related individuals are captured by predators.
Lestrimelitta limao is a neotropical eusocial bee species found in Brazil and Panama and is part of the Apidae family. It is a species of stingless bees that practices obligate nest robbing. They have never been spotted foraging from flowers, an observation that supports their raiding behavior. Because of their lack of hind corbiculae, they must raid to obtain enough protein in their diet in the form of pollen and nectar. Lestrimelitta limao secrete a lemon-scented alarm allomone, from which they receive their name, in order to conduct successful raids. L. limao are hypothesized to produce poisonous honey that is toxic if consumed by humans. Because robber bees are so rare and difficult to observe, there is a limited scope of information available.
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.
Meliponiculture is the rational farming of stingless bees (SB), or meliponines, which is different from apiculture. In meliponiculture, the hives can be organized in meliponary, places with suitable conditions of temperature, solar orientation, humidity, and food supply.
