Stingless Bee (Tetragonula carbonaria)
Pollinators play an integral role in the world’s ecosystem as they facilitate the pollination process of many of the world’s flowering plants. For example, without pollinators such as bees, agricultural crops would cease to thrive, leading to the demise of the animals that rely on them for sustenance, including us! (BBC, 2019).
Small and dark in colour, the Stingless Bee, Tetragonula carbonaria, builds a sizable communal nest in tree hollows and crevices (Australian Museum, 2021). This bee inhabits various habitats, including woods, heath, woodlands, urban areas, and rural regions, along the east coast from southern New South Wales to Queensland (Australian Museum, 2021).
These bees don’t sting, as their name implies. They, therefore, are not harmful to humans. They produce delicious thin honey that is supposedly a little citrus-like in flavour (Australian Museum, 2021). These bees consume the nectar and pollen of a wide variety of plants, which they can direct one another to, using a chemical trail (Australian Museum, 2021).
Australian stingless bee species have been successfully utilised to pollinate various crops in Queensland, including watermelons, macadamias, and mangoes (Wheen Bee Foundation, 2018). Compared to honeybees, these bees forage a lot closer to their hive, which can benefit crops as they won’t venture out of the field in search of flowers and focus more on the crop they’re needed for (Wheen Bee Foundation, 2018). However, given that stingless bees can only produce one kilogram of honey per year, they will never be able to compete with the common honeybees in terms of honey production and volume of product (Wheen Bee Foundation, 2018).
Our local, little Stingless Bee, Tetragonula carbonaria, is threatened by a variety of factors, such as climate change, invasive species, agricultural chemicals, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation (Toledo-Hernández et al., 2022). These factors all contribute to the removal of the bee’s habitat and food source and the extinction of these bees (Toledo-Hernández et al., 2022).
Addressing these threats and implementing effective conservation measures are crucial to preserving the Australian Stingless Bee and ensuring the long-term sustainability of this species.
Reference List:
Australian Museum. (2021, November 10). Stingless Bee. The Australian Museum. https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/stingless-bee/
BBC. (2019). What Would Happen If Bees Went extinct? www.bbc.com. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct#:~:text=We%20may%20lose%20all%20the
TOLEDO-HERNÁNDEZ, E., PEÑA-CHORA, G., HERNÁNDEZ-VELÁZQUEZ, V. M., LORMENDEZ, C. C., TORIBIO-JIMÉNEZ, J., ROMERO-RAMÍREZ, Y., & LEÓN-RODRÍGUEZ, R. (2022). The stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini): a review of the current threats to their survival. Apidologie, 53(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13592-022-00913-w
Wheen Bee Foundation. (2018). Australian Native Bees – The Wheen Bee Foundation. The Wheen Bee Foundation. https://www.wheenbeefoundation.org.au/about-bees-pollination/australian-native-bees/
For more information on how to build your own native bee box, click on the link below:
Click Here to Download Bee Box Instructions
You may also be interested in our native bee rescue video series, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5. And if you come across any native bees or a hive that may be in danger of damage or removal then please contact us to see if we can help.
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