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Bees of Zihuatanejo

EPIFAMILY ANTHOPHILA

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

-Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

-Insects (Class Insecta)

-Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

-Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies (Order Hymenoptera)

-Narrow-waisted Wasps, Ants, and Bees (Suborder Apocrita)

-Ants, Bees, and Stinging Wasps (Infraorder Aculeata)

-Bees and Apoid Wasps (Superfamily Apoidea)

-Bees (Epifamily Anthophila)

-​Honey Bees, Bumble Bees, and Allies (Family Apidae)

-Apine Bees (Subfamily Apinae)​

-Stingless Bees (Tribe Meliponini)

-Genus Trigona

-Red Tailed Stingless Bee (Trigona fulviventris)


These bees are identified by typically being entirely black with a cloudy section at the end of their wings. They are closely related to common honey bees. They have stingers but are highly reduced and cannot be used for defense. They lack a stinger, which is a characteristic of all stingless bees. Instead, they rely on biting as a defense mechanism. T. fulviventris is a generalist forager, visiting a wide range of flowering plants for nectar and pollen.



Red Tailed Stingless Bee

Trigona fulviventris

Range

  • Native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.

  • In Mexico, it occurs along both the Pacific and Gulf slopes, including Guerrero and the Zihuatanejo region.

  • Its range extends south through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and into Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

Habitat

  • Inhabits tropical dry forests, tropical rainforests, mangroves, secondary forests, woodland edges, orchards, gardens, and agricultural areas.

  • Colonies nest in hollow tree trunks, tree cavities, wall crevices, and occasionally abandoned termite nests.

  • Nest entrances are typically constructed from wax and plant resins, often forming short tubes.

Behaviour

  • Highly social, living in colonies of thousands of workers with a single queen.

  • Workers forage throughout the day, collecting nectar, pollen, plant resins, and water.

  • Although stingless, workers vigorously defend their nests by biting, swarming intruders, and using sticky plant resins.

  • Workers communicate profitable food sources using pheromone trails and recruitment signals, enabling efficient exploitation of flowering plants.

Size

  • Worker length: 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in)

  • Queen length: 7–9 mm (0.3–0.4 in)

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