Meliponini

Belongs within: Corbiculata.
Contains: Trigona.

The Meliponini, stingless bees, are a diverse group of bees in the tropics. As well as the reduced sting, they are characterised by a weakened distal forewing venation (Engel 2001).

Characters (from Engel 2001): Minute to moderate size (ca. 1.5–13 mm long), sparsely to moderately pubescent bees. Mandible without outer mandibular grooves. Labral width three to four times length. Clypeus variously produced, typically gently convex and not protuberant in profile. Compound eyes typically bare. Supra-alar carina absent; scutellum broadly rounded posteriorly and variously produced (i.e., ranging from projecting over metanotum and propodeum to not projecting at all). Claws of female simple; arolium strong and present; metatibial spurs absent; malus of strigilis without anterior velum; metabasitarsus without auricle; metatibia with penicillum. Distal venation of forewing weakened; marginal cell apex typically open; pterostigma present, moderate to large in size, much longer than prestigma, r-rs arising near midpoint, margin within marginal cell convex; 1m-cu, when present, angled; hind wing with distinct jugal lobe, lobe broadly and deeply incised; hamuli reduced; wing membrane without alar papillae. Sting reduced.

<==Meliponini [Lestrimelittini, Meliponites, Trigonini]
    |--+--+--Lestrimelitta Friese 1903CSD10, E01
    |  |  |    `--L. limaoSZG16
    |  |  `--+--Scaura latitarsis (Friese 1900)CSD10
    |  |     `--+--Scaptotrigona hellwegeri (Friese 1900)CSD10
    |  |        `--+--Cephalotrigona capitata (Smith 1854)CSD10
    |  |           `--TrigonaCSD10
    |  `--Melipona Illiger 1806CSD10, E01
    |       |--M. alinderiBB01
    |       |--M. bicolorDBP05
    |       |--M. domesticaD59
    |       |--M. favosa [=Apis (Melipona) favosa]G20
    |       |--M. lineataL89
    |       |--M. quadrifasciataTM03
    |       |    |--M. q. quadrifasciataWKN94
    |       |    `--M. q. anthidioidesWKN94
    |       |--M. rufiventrisTM03
    |       `--M. segmentariaR26
    `--+--+--Plebeina Moure 1961CSD10, M65
       |  |    |--*P. denoiti (Vachal 1903) [=Trigona denoiti, T. (Plebeia) denoiti]M65
       |  |    `--P. hildebrandti (Friese 1900)CSD10
       |  `---+--Axestotrigona ferruginea (Lepeletier 1836)CSD10
       |      `--MeliponulaCSD10
       |           |--M. bocandeiCSD10
       |           `--M. erythraE01
       `--+--Tetragonula Moure 1961CSD10, M65
          |    |--*T. iridipennis (Smith 1857)M65 (see below for synonymy)
          |    |--T. carbonaria (Smith 1854)CSD10
          |    |--T. hockingsiH18
          |    `--T. laevicepsP92
          `--+--+--Hypotrigona gribodoi (Magretti 1884)CSD10
             |  `--Kelneriapis Sakagami 1978CSD10, E01 [=Kelnermelia Moure in Moure & Camargo 1978E01]
             |       `--*K. eocenica (Kelner-Pillault 1969) (see below for synonymy)E01
             `--+--Liotrigonopsis Engel 2001CSD10, E01
                |    `--*L. rozeni Engel 2001E01
                `--LiotrigonaCSD10
                     |--L mahafalyaE01
                     `--L. vetulaE01
Meliponini incertae sedis:
  Tetragonisca Moure 1946TM03, M65
    |--*T. jaty (Smith 1863) [=Trigona jaty, Tr. (Tetragona) jaty]M65
    `--T. angustulaTM03
  Partamona cupeiraB04
  Cretotrigona Engel 2000E01
    `--*C. prisca (Michener & Grimaldi 1988) [=Trigona prisca]E01
  Meliponorytes Tosi 1896E01
    |--*M. succini Tosi 1896E01
    `--M. siculaE01
  Proplebeia Michener 1982E01
    |--*P. dominicana (Wille & Chandler 1964) [=Trigona (Liotrigona) dominicana]E01
    |--P. tantillaE01
    `--P. vetustaE01
  DactylurinaCSD10

*Kelneriapis eocenica (Kelner-Pillault 1969) [=Hypotrigona eocenica, *Kelnermelia eocenica, Tetragonula (*Kelneriapis) eocenica, Trigona (Hypotrigona) eocenica]^E01

*Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith 1857)^M65 [=Trigona iridipennis^M65, Tr. (Tetragona) iridipennis^M65; incl. Meliponorytes devictus Cockerell 1921^E01, Tetragonula devicta^P92]

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[BB01] Bowestead, S., R. G. Booth, A. Silpinski & J. F. Lawrence. 2001. The genus Cleidostethus Arrow, 1929 reappraisal and transfer from Coccinellidae to Corylophidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea). Annales Zoologici 51 (3): 319–323.

[B04] Brown, B. V. 2004. Revision of the subgenus Udamochiras of Melaloncha bee-killing flies (Diptera: Phoridae: Metopininae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 140: 1–42.

[CSD10] Cardinal, S., J. Straka & B. N. Danforth. 2010. Comprehensive phylogeny of apid bees reveals the evolutionary origins and antiquity of cleptoparasitism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 107 (37): 16207–16211.

[D59] Darwin, C. 1859. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life 1^st ed. John Murray: London (reprinted 1967. Atheneum: New York; 1968. Penguin Books: London).

[DBP05] Delsuc, F., H. Brinkmann & H. Philippe. 2005. Phylogenomics and the reconstruction of the tree of life. Nature Reviews: Genetics 6: 361–375.

[E01] Engel, M. S. 2001. A monograph of the Baltic amber bees and evolution of the Apoidea (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 259: 1–192.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[H18] Houston, T. 2018. A Guide to Native Bees of Australia. CSIRO Publishing.

[L89] Lucas, H. 1889. Note suivante relative à des hyménoptères sociaux de la division des méliponides. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France, 6^e série 9: cvii–cviii.

[M65] Michener, C. D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1–362.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R26] Risso, A. 1826. Histoire naturelle des principales productions de l’Europe méridionale et particulièrement de celles des environs de Nice et des Alpes maritimes vol. 5. F.-G. Levrault: Paris.

[SZG16] Segers, F. H. I. D., L. von Zuben & C. Grüter. 2016. Local differences in parasitism and competition shape defensive investment in a polymorphic eusocial bee. Ecology 97 (2): 417–426.

[TM03] Teixeira, A. C. P., M. M. Marini, J. R. Nicoli, Y. Antonini, R. P. Martins, M.-A. Lachance & C. A. Rosa. 2003. Starmerella meliponinorum sp. nov., a novel ascomycetous yeast species associated with stingless bees. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 53: 339–343.

[WKN94] Wrensch, D. L., J. B. Kethley & R. A. Norton. 1994. Cytogenetics of holokinetic chromosomes and inverted meiosis: keys to the evolutionary success of mites, with generalizations on eukaryotes. In: M. A. Houck (ed.) Mites: Ecological and Evolutionary Analyses of Life-history Patterns pp. 282–343. Chapman & Hall: New York.