Stingless bee

These bees have no sting.

They live in big groups. A queen bee lays the eggs.

Many worker bees do the jobs. They carry pollen in little baskets. These baskets are on their back legs.

Some bees make sweet honey. People like to eat this honey. They are very helpful to the world.

Stingless bees are a large group of bees. They live in most tropical parts of the world.

These bees have very small stingers. They cannot use them to defend themselves. Instead, they use other ways to stay safe. Some bees can bite with strong jaws. Others use smells or sticky liquids to stop enemies.

Most colonies have a clear set of jobs. This is called a caste division. The queen is the leader. She is often much larger than other bees. Her main job is to lay eggs.

Worker bees do most of the work. They clean the nest and find food. They carry pollen in special parts on their legs. These parts are called corbiculae, or pollen baskets.

Some bees also make honey. People farm these bees to get it. This is called meliponiculture. In some places, people use the honey as medicine.

Stingless bees are a huge group of living things. There are between 462 and 552 different species. They belong to a group called Meliponini. This name comes from the Greek words for "honey" and "toil." This name describes their job as honey producers. These bees are related to bumblebees and common honey bees. Even though they have stingers, they are very small. They cannot use them for defense. Instead, they use other ways to stay safe. Some bees use strong jaws to bite. Others use smells or sticky liquids to stop enemies.

Inside a colony, every bee has a specific job. This way of working is called a caste division. The queen is the most important bee. She is responsible for laying eggs to grow the colony. Most queens are much larger than the other bees. They can be two to six times heavier than workers. After mating, the queen undergoes physogastry. This means her abdomen grows very large.

The workers do most of the daily chores. They clean the nest and find food. They use special structures on their legs called corbiculae. These act like little pollen baskets to carry food.

We can learn about these bees from very old fossils. Scientists have found twelve extinct species in amber. Amber is fossilized tree resin. Stingless bees often collect resin to build their nests. This habit helps them get trapped in the resin. The oldest fossil is named Cretotrigona prisca. It was found in New Jersey amber. This tiny bee lived about 65 to 70 million years ago. It was a small worker only 5 mm long.

Stingless bees live in many warm places. You can find them in Africa, Asia, and Australia. They are also in the Neotropical region. This includes places from Mexico to Argentina. The Neotropical region has the most species. There are about 426 species in that area alone. In Africa, there are about 36 different species. Many live in tropical forests or savannahs.

In Asia, about 90 species live from India to the Solomon Islands. Some bees live in the mountains of Nepal or China.

Humans have lived alongside these bees for a long time. The Mayans practiced meliponiculture before Columbus arrived. This is the way people farm stingless bees. They keep the bees in man-made structures. This practice is still common in Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. People prize their honey for many uses. In some African and South American cultures, the honey is used as medicine. It is used for things like breathing or stomach problems.

Stingless bees, known scientifically as Meliponini, are a diverse group of insects. They belong to the family Apidae. This family also includes common honey bees, bumblebees, and orchid bees. These four groups are part of a single lineage called corbiculate bees. Most members of this group are highly eusocial. This means they live in organized colonies with different roles. They are famous for producing honey. The name Meliponini comes from the Greek words "meli," meaning honey, and "pōnē," meaning toil.

While these bees possess stingers, they are highly reduced. This means the stingers are too small to be used for defense. Instead, they use other clever methods to protect their nests. Some species have strong mandibles, which are mouthparts used for biting. These bites can be quite painful. Other species use mandibular glands to secrete caustic substances. Some might even use unpleasant smells or sticky materials to stop enemies.

Inside a colony, there is a strict division of labor among different castes. The queen is the primary egg-layer. Most queens are much larger than workers, weighing two to six times more. After mating, queens undergo physogastry. This is a process where the abdomen becomes greatly distended or swollen. Most colonies are monogynous, meaning they have only one queen. However, the species Melipona bicolor can be polygynous. This means a single colony can have as many as five queens.

Workers make up the largest part of the colony population. They handle almost every daily task. They clean the nest, nurse the young, and defend the entrance. Workers also collect food like pollen and resin. They use a special structure on their hind legs called a corbicula. This acts like a pollen basket to carry materials back to the nest.

Males, or drones, have a different role. Their only main job is to mate with queens. Drones usually leave the nest when they are two to three weeks old. They do not return to the colony.

Stingless bees have a very deep history in the fossil record. Scientists have identified twelve extinct species through fossils found in amber. Amber is fossilized tree resin. Because stingless bees collect resin to build nests, they often get trapped in it. This helps preserve them for millions of years. The oldest known fossil is Cretotrigona prisca. It was found in New Jersey amber and lived 65 to 70 million years ago. This tiny worker was only about 5 mm long.

These bees are found in many warm parts of the world. They live in the Afrotropical, Indo-Malayan, Australasian, and Neotropical regions. The Neotropics have the highest variety, with about 426 species. This area stretches from Mexico to Argentina. In Africa, there are about 36 species. Most live in tropical forests or savannahs. In Asia and Australia, about 90 species live from India to the Solomon Islands.

Researchers believe these bees may have originated in the Neotropics. They might have spread to Asia by crossing the Bering Strait.

Humans have a long history with these insects. The Mayans practiced meliponiculture, which is the farming of stingless bees. They did this on a large scale even before Columbus arrived. Today, people still farm them in countries like Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. They use man-made structures to house the colonies.

Many cultures prize meliponine honey for its perceived medicinal properties. In some African and South American communities, it is used for respiratory or digestive issues. While people value it, more research is needed to prove these medical uses.