Tribe Meliponi are the smallest of the honey producing
bees. Like honey bees they are highly social insects living in
perennial colonies and nesting in concealed places. Stingless
bee colonies usually consist of hundreds or thousands of
workers (Wille, 1983). According to Michener (2000), size of
stingless bee colonies range from a few dozen to more than
100,000 workers. Stingless bees besides yielding honey are
important and effective pollinators of many crop species. Nine
species of crops are confirmed as effectively pollinated by
stingless bees and they make a contribution to the pollination
of nearly 60 other crops (Heard, 1988). More than 500 species of
stingless bees occur throughout the world (Ruttner, 1988).
However, Tetragoula iridipennis Smith is the only known species
that occurs in India. In order to exploit the stingless bees both
for pollination as well as for honey production, a sound
knowledge on its nesting habits and nest structure is essential.
Taxonomic
Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith,1854)
Synonym(s): Trigona iridipennis Smith, 1854
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom Phylum Subphylum Class Subclass Infraclass Order Suborder Infraorder Superfamily Family Subfamily Tribe Genus Species | Animalia Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Pterygota Neoptera Hymenoptera Apocrita Aculeata Apoidea Apidae Apinae Meliponini Tetragonula Moure, 1961 Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith, 1854) |
