Lestrimelitta

Lestrimelitta
File:Lestrimelitta limao.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Apoidea
Family:	Apidae
Subfamily:	Apinae
Tribe:	Meliponini
Genus:	Lestrimelitta Friese, 1903
Species
24 spp.

Lestrimelitta is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with 19 known species [1]. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen baskets. Unlike most eusocial bees, they do not gather their own pollen and nectar from flowers, thus are not pollinators, but instead they invade the colonies of other stingless bee species and rob their pollen and honey stores (a phenomenon called "cleptobiosis"). They do not initiate their own nests, but they will "evict" another stingless bee colony from its nest (usually in a tree cavity), and convert the pre-existing nest to house their own colony.

Selected taxa

• Lestrimelitta catira(Gonzalez and Griswold, 2012)
• Lestrimelitta chacoana(Roig-Alsina, 2010)
• Lestrimelitta chamelenis(Ayala, 1999)
• Lestrimelitta ciliata(Marchi and Melo, 2006)
• Lestrimelitta danuncia(Oliveira and Marchi, 2005)
• Lestrimelitta ehrhardti(Friese, 1931)
• Lestrimelitta glaberrima(Oliveira and Marchi, 2005)
• Lestrimelitta glabrata(Camargo and Moure, 1990)
• Lestrimelitta guyanensis(Roubik, 1980)
• Lestrimelitta huilensis(Gonzalez and Griswold, 2012)
• Lestrimelitta limao (Smith, 1863) –irati
• Lestrimelitta maracaia(Marchi and Melo, 2006)
• Lestrimelitta monodonta( Camargo and Moure, 1990)
• Lestrimelitta mourei(Oliveira and Marchi, 2005)
• Lestrimelitta nana(Melo, 2003)
• Lestrimelitta niitkib(Ayala, 1999)
• Lestrimelitta opita(Gonzalez and Griswold, 2012)
• Lestrimelitta rufa(Friese, 1903)
• Lestrimelitta rufipes(Friese, 1903)
• Lestrimelitta similis(Marchi and Melo, 2006)
• Lestrimelitta spinosa( Marchi and Melo, 2006)
• Lestrimelitta sulina( Marchi and Melo, 2006)
• Lestrimelitta tropica( Marchi and Melo, 2006)

References

• C. D. Michener (2000) The Bees of the World, Johns Hopkins University Press.
• J. S. Ascher, J. Pickering, (2012) Discover Life's bee species guide and world checklist