DoomsdaysCWMay 20

From 2018... So, it looks like a relative of the #EuropeanHoneyBee did once exist in #NorthAmerica -- but they went extinct many years ago!

"In 2009, paleontologists uncovered a single fossilized worker bee in the Stewart Valley Basin of west-central Nevada. This was no European honey bee. It was Apis nearctica, an extinct species of honey bee that lived during the middle Miocene epoch—14 million years ago. Preserved in a delicate paper shale deposit alongside other ancient insects, the fossil offers the first definitive evidence of #HoneyBees native to North America."

However, #NativeBees (#MeliponaBeecheii) produce honey as well!

"Ancient Honey, Without Honey Bees?

If honey bees didn’t return to North America until the 1600s, how did the Maya harvest honey long before that?

The answer lies in a different lineage of bees entirely: stingless bees of the tribe #Meliponini. These bees, especially those in the genus Melipona, are native to the tropics and subtropics. Revered by the ancient Maya, stingless bees were more than pollinators—they were spiritual symbols. The Mayan bee god, #AhMuzenCab, was honored for the gift of honey.

The Maya’s favorite stingless bee was Melipona beecheii, or kolil kab in Yucatec Maya, meaning 'royal lady.' Unlike the vast colonies of honey bees, Melipona beecheii lives in smaller colonies and produces just two liters of honey per year—a fraction of the five gallons a typical honey bee hive can yield.

Families traditionally kept hives in hollow logs near their homes. But the spread of aggressive Africanized honey bees has threatened this ancient practice, as stingless bees are unable to compete for resources."

https://nativebeeology.com/2018/01/26/native-honey-bees/

#WorldBeeDay #YucatanBees #MayanBees #NativeBees #BeeHistory

Honey Bees in America: Native Origins and Modern Return

The recent discovery of a fossilized honey bee, Apis nearctica, in Nevada suggests that honey bees were once native to North America, existing 14 million years ago. This finding challenges the assu…

Native Beeology
sohkamyungJun 10, 2025

A group of Valdez's Stingless Bee (Tetragonula valdezi) spotted buzzing around a lamp post at Telok Blangah Hill Park, Singapore on 5 Jan 2025. These tiny and harmless native bees ignored me as I took these shots.

On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/257447415 ].

#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Insects #Bees #Hymenoptera #StinglessBees #Meliponini

TheotimeColinNov 18, 2022

Tetragonula stingless bees are the main potential alternative to honeybees for crop #pollination in #Australia. Very little is known on #stingless #bee mating and queen #behaviour. I was very happy to support student and stingless bee specialist Francisco Bulle Bueno during his work.

There are a lot of cool pictures and behavioural descriptions in this article, have a look:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00040-022-00887-z

#ecology #behaviouralecology #biology #science #bees #Meliponini #insects #entomology

Virgin queen behaviour and controlled mating in the stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria (Meliponini) - Insectes Sociaux

Improving knowledge of virgin queen behaviour and mating biology in stingless bees (Meliponini) is an important step towards artificial selection programmes for managed colonies. Here we study the Australian stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria to (1) describe the behaviour of queens from eclosion until egg-laying, and (2) assess whether young queens can be reared and mated under constrained conditions. We extracted mature virgin queen cells of T. carbonaria from large colonies and reared them in queen maturation boxes containing a limited number of workers (“micro-colonies”). Queen behaviour followed a typical pattern with three phases: a period of high activity and wing-flapping on top of the brood (5 ± 2 days of age), attempts to leave the colony for the nuptial flight (12 ± 3 days of age), and oviposition (20 ± 6 days of age). In total, 71% (68 of 95) of queen cells hatched in our maturation boxes and 57% (39 of 68) survived to mating age, with some observed to be actively killed by workers within the first week of life (8 of 68; 11%). For a subset of our queens, we performed controlled matings (either with or without CO2 narcosis) by presenting constrained females to males in mating aggregations, allowing one male to mate (deposit mating plug) and then returning queens to their box. In the absence of CO2 narcosis, 30% of queens mated this way were subsequently found to have sperm in their spermathecae, indicative of a successful mating (5 of 17). The remaining 70% however contained no sperm, despite the presence of the male mating plug. Amongst queens that were CO2 narcotized before and during the controlled mating, none had sperm in their spermathecae (0 of 12), though most went on to activate their ovaries following the mating and lay male (haploid) eggs. Together, these trials indicate that controlled matings with T. carbonaria are possible, but suggest that queens may need to actively accept mating for successful sperm transfer.

SpringerLink
Elinor M. LichtenbergNov 18, 2022
About a decade ago I bought a piece of #amber with ancient #StinglessBees (#Meliponini). Today we put them under the #microscope. You can even see the #corbicula! Looks like she might have been carrying #pollen when she got stuck? Second photo taken for artistic purposes, but you can clearly see the #wing.