Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Meliponini

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Pot-Honey

Abstract

This chapter provides a general introduction to the tribe Meliponini or stingless bees. Their position within the Apoidea and within the Aculeata is briefly summarized in the section “Introduction.” The section on classification lists all genera and subgenera but does not list characters or provide for identification of taxa within the Meliponini. A section on biology is largely introductory to the sections on reproduction, foraging (including communication by successful foragers), foods (including foods unusual for bees, such as carrion, booty stolen from other nests by robbers, perspiration, tears from eyes, etc.), nests (including sites, construction materials, structure), defense, and history and phylogeny (including fossils, antiquity).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aguilar-Monge I. 2004. Communication and recruitment for the collection of food in stingless bees: a behavioral approach. 150 pp, thesis, University of Utrecht [Netherlands].

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayala R. 1999. Revision de las abejas sin aguijon de México. Folia Entomologica Mexicana 106:1–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bänziger H, Boongird S, Sukumalanand P, Bänziger S. 2009. Bees that drink human tears. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 82:135–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bänziger H, Pumikong S, Kanokorn S. 2011. The remarkable nest entrance of tear drinking Pariotrigona klossi aand other stingless bees nesting in limestone cavities. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 84:22–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camargo JMF. 2008. Biogeografía historica dos Meliponini (Hymenoptera. Apidae. Apinae) da região neotropical. pp. 13–26. In Vit P, ed. Cría de Abejas sin Aguijón y Valorización sensorial de sus Mieles. APIBA-FFB-DIGECEX-ULA; Mérida, Venezuela. 146 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camargo JMF, Grimaldi DA, Pedro SRM. 2000. The extinct fauna of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in Dominican amber: Two new species and redescription of the male of Proplebeia dominicana (Wille and Chandler). American Museum Novitates 3293:1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camargo JMF, Pedro SRM. 2002. Mutualistic association between a tiny Amazonian stingless bee and a wax-producing scale insect. Biotropica 34:1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camargo JMF, Pedro SRM. 2007. Meliponini Lepeletier, 1836. pp. 272–578. In Moure JS, Urban D, Melo GAR, eds. Catalogue of Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the Neotropical Region. Sociedade Brasileira de Entomologia; Curitiba, Brasil. xiv+1058 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camargo JMF, Pedro SRM. 2009. Neotropical Meliponini: The genus Celetrigona Moure. Zootaxa 2135:37–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Dalla Torre CG. 1896. Catalogus Hymenopterorum, vol. X. Englemann; Lipsiae [Leipzig, Germany]. vii+643 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dollin AE, Dollin LJ, Sakagami SF. 1997. Australian stingless bees of the genus Trigona. Invertebrate Taxonomy 12:861–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eardley CD. 2004. Taxonomic review of the African stingless bees. African Plant Protection 10:63–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel MS. 2000. A new interpretation of the oldest fossil bee. American Museum Novitates 3296:1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engel MS. 2001a. A monograph of the Baltic amber bees and evolution of the Apoidea. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 259:1–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engel MS. 2001b. Monophyly and extensive extinction of advanced eusocial bees: Insights from an unexpected Eocene diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science [USA] 98:1661–1664.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Engel MS. 2004. Geological history of the bees. Revista Tecnologia e Ambiente [Criciúma, Brazil] 10:9–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel MS. 2011. Systematic melittology: where from here? Systematic Entomology 36:2–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau A. 1836. Histoire naturelle des insectes, Hyménoptéres, vol. 1. Encycl. Rorat; Paris, France. 547 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener CD. 1944. Comparative external morphology, phylogeny, and a classification of the bees. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 82:151–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener CD. 1961. Observations on the nests and behavior of Trigona in Australia and New Guinea. American Museum Novitates 2026:1–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener CD. 1990. Classification of the Apidae. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 54:75–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener CD. 2000. The bees of the world. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press; Baltimore, United States. xiv + 913 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener, CD. 2007. The bees of the world. Second edition. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press; Baltimore, United States. xvi + 953 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener CD, Grimaldi DA. 1988. A Trigona from Late Cretaceous amber of New Jersey. American Museum Novitates 2917:1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moure JS. 1946. Contribuição para o conhecimento dos Meliponinae. (Hym. Apoidea). Revista de Entomologia 17:437–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moure JS. 1961. A preliminary supraspecific classification of the Old World meliponine bees. Studia Entomologica [Brazil] 4:181–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nogueira-Neto P. 1953. A criação de abelhas indígenas sem ferrão. Chácaras e Quintais; São Paulo:iii + 280 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nogueira-Neto P. 1970. A criação de abelhas indígenas sem ferrão. Second edition. Chácaras e Quintais; São Paulo:365 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nogueira-Neto P. 1997. Vida e criação de abelhas indígenas sem ferrão. Nogueirapis; São Paulo:446 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauly A, Brooks RW, Nilsson LA, Pesenko YA, Eardley CD, Terzo M, Griswold T, Schwarz M, Patiny S, Muzinger J, Barbier Y. 2001. Hymenoptera Apoidea de Madagascar et des iles voisines. Annales Sciences Zoologiques (Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren) 286:1–390, pls. 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portugal-Araújo V. 1958. A contribution to the bionomics of Lestrimelitta cubiceps. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 31:203–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen C. 2008. Catalog of the Indo-Malayan / Australasian stingless bees. Zootaxa 1935:1–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen C, Cameron SA. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of the old world stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) and the non-monophyly of the large genus Trigona. Systematic Entomology 32:26–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen C, Cameron SA. 2010. Global stingless bee phylogeny supports ancient divergence, vicariance, and long distance dispersal. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 99:206–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roubik DW. 1982. Obligate necrophagy in a social bee. Science 217:1059–1060.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roubik DW. 1989. Ecology and natural history of tropical bees. Cambridge Univ. Press; New York. x + 514 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roubik DW. 2006. Stingless bee nesting biology. Apidologie 37:124–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roubik DW, Moreno Patiño JE. 2009. Trigona corvina: An ecological study based on an unusual nest structure and pollen analysis. Psyche 2009 (258756):1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakagami SF. 1975. Stingless bees (excl. Tetragonula) from the continental southeast Asia in the collection of Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series VI, Zoology 20:49–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakagami SF. 1978. Tetragonula stingless bees of the continental southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series VI, Zoology 21:165–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakagami SF, Inoue T, Yamane S, Salmah S. 1989. Nests of the myrmecophilous stingless bee, Trigona moorei: How do the bees initiate their nest in an arboreal ant nest? Biotropica 21:265–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakagami SF, Roubik DW, Zucchi R. 1993. Ethology of the robber stingless bee, Lestrimelitta limao. Sociobiology 21:237–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz HF. 1937. Results of the Oxford University Sarawak (Borneo) expedition: Bornean stingless bees of the genus Trigona. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 73:281–328, pls.II-VII.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz HF. 1938. The stingless bees (Meliponidae) of British Guiana and some related sforms, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 74:437–508, pls. LII-LXII.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz HF. 1939. The Indo-malayan species of Trigona. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 76:83–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz HF. 1948. Stingless bees (Meliponidae) of the western hemisphere. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 90:xviii+546.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith F. 1854. Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the part 2 British Museum, London, pp. 199–465, pls. vii-xii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wille A. 1979. Phylogeny and relationships among the genera and subgenera of the stingless bees (Meliponinae) of the world. Revista de Biologia Tropical 27:241–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wille A. 1983. Biology of the stingless bees. Annual Review of Entomology 28:41–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wille A, Michener CD. 1973. The nest architecture of stingless bees with special reference to those of Costa Rica. Revista de Biologia Tropical 21 (supplemento 1):1–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wille A, Orozco E. 1975. Observations on the founding of a new colony by Trigona cupira (Hymenoptera:Apidae) in Costa Rica. Revista de Biologia Tropical 22:253–287.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive, Room 140, Lawrence, KS, 66049-4401, USA

    Charles D. Michener

Authors
  1. Charles D. Michener
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles D. Michener .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zumba Sur, University of the Andes, Villa Del Rio 8, Merida, 5101, Venezuela

    Patricia Vit

  2. Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, Ribeirão Preto, 14040-901, São Paulo, Brazil

    Silvia R. M. Pedro

  3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Panama

    David Roubik

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Michener, C.D. (2013). The Meliponini. In: Vit, P., Pedro, S., Roubik, D. (eds) Pot-Honey. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4960-7_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation