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Lestrimelitta

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Lestrimelitta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Tribe: Meliponini
Genus: Lestrimelitta
Friese, 1903
Species

24 spp.

Lestrimelitta is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with 19 known species [1]. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen baskets. Unlike most eusocial bees, they do not gather their own pollen and nectar from flowers, thus are not pollinators, but instead they invade the colonies of other stingless bee species and rob their pollen and honey stores (a phenomenon called "cleptobiosis"). They do not initiate their own nests, but they will "evict" another stingless bee colony from its nest (usually in a tree cavity), and convert the pre-existing nest to house their own colony.

Selected taxa

References

  • C. D. Michener (2000) The Bees of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • J. S. Ascher, J. Pickering, (2012) Discover Life's bee species guide and world checklist