Austroplebeia
Genus of insects
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Austroplebeia is a stingless bee (Meliponini) genus in the family Apidae. The genus was erected by Jesus Santiago Moure in 1961.[1][2] The genus comprises five described species endemic to Australia and New Guinea.[3] Austroplebeia are more closely related to the African stingless bees than rest of the species found in Asia and Australia.[4]
| Austroplebeia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Female Austroplebeia australis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Tribe: | Meliponini |
| Genus: | Austroplebeia Moure, 1961 |
The species of Austroplebeia are difficult to separate reliably by body size or morphology[5] except for A. cincta which can be distinguished readily by its colouration and pilosity.[6] There are also few differences in their nest structures. This has hindered taxonomic studies to date and no workable key exists for the Austroplebeia species.[7]
All species are small, black and robust (length: 3.0–4.9 mm) and differ from other stingless bee species that co-occur in the same region (i.e. Tetragonula, Platytrigona, Papuatrigona) by the presence of cream or yellow markings in their head and thorax.[3] Most species construct their nests largely from wax, unlike most stingless bees, they use propolis sparingly. They construct a fine, lacy curtain of resin droplets over their nest entrance at night in order to protect against ants and other predators.[8][9]
In Australia, people keep these bees in logs or wooden hives made of boxes.[8][9] They show potential as pollinators of both field and greenhouse crops[10][11][12]
Species
In alphabetical order:[13]
- Austroplebeia australis (Friese, 1898)
- Austroplebeia cassiae (Cockerell, 1910)
- Austroplebeia cincta (Mocsáry, 1898)
- Austroplebeia essingtoni (Cockerell, 1905)
- Austroplebeia fujianica (Engel, 2021)
- Austroplebeia magna (Dollin, Dollin, & Rasmussen, 2015)
Gallery
- Austroplebeia worker faces
A. cincta (New Guinea population) worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
A. cincta (Queensland population) worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
A. essingtoni worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
A. australis worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
A. cassiae worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
A. magna worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
