''Austroplebeia australis'' (previously and originally known as ''Trigona australis'') is a

stingless bee Stingless bees (SB), sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees (from about 462 to 552 described species), comprising the Tribe (biology), tribe Meliponini (or subtribe Meliponina according to other aut ...

species in the tribe

Meliponini Stingless bees (SB), sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees (from about 462 to 552 described species), comprising the Tribe (biology), tribe Meliponini (or subtribe Meliponina according to other aut ...

first validly described by

Heinrich Friese Heinrich Friedrich August Karl Ludwig Friese (4 May 1860, Schwerin – 8 September 1948, Schwerin) was a German biologist and entomologist, a specialist of bees (melittology, melittologist).

in 1898. Within

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, they are occasionally referred to as bush bees. The native range of ''A. australis'' extends more than 2,000 km, from the districts of Fitzroy and

Central West Queensland Central West Queensland (abbreviated CWQ) is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers 396,650.2 km2. The region lies to the north of South West Queensland and south of the Gulf Country. It has a population of appr ...

, through the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

and into northern New South Wales, but is thought to be no further south than 31°04'S (Example:

Hat Head National Park Hat Head is a national park on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north-east of Sydney. It lies within the Hastings-Macleay Important Bird Area. Within the park is the eponymous village of Hat Head, with about 320 inhabitants. ...

Colony cycle

Activity

Colonies of ''A. australis'' tend to be active all year round.ResearchGate Publication 256537334
/ref> The daily activity period, however, is longer in the Southern Hemisphere's warmer months, late September to March. The intensity of these daily flights is greatest in September, and least intense in May. A temperature threshold exists on all of this activity. Flight and foraging activity is not observed until an ambient temperature rise of greater than 20 °C. This year-long period of activity is beneficial for the pollination of crops flowering at any time of the year. ''Austroplebeia australis'' colonies tend to collect a narrow resource spectrum and focused on high-quality resources (i.e., nectar of significantly higher sugar concentrations), compared to other stingless bees such as ''Tetragonula carbonaria.'' ResearchGate Publication 263164567
/ref> Mini OATH Bee Hive

Interaction with other species

Predators

The typical predators for ''A. australis'' include many of the same predators for other Meliponini species, such as

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

lizards Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The ...

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

, and

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

Defence

Devoid the use of a stinger, the main defence for a stingless bee colony is the entrance. The entrance of the nest are reduced in size to the width of three to four bees wide. Most species within the ''Austroplebeia'' genus close their entrance at night with a sticky resinous substance. At dusk ''A. australis'' constructs a lacy curtain of cerumen at the entrance of the nest to aid in defence but this is also observed during inclement weather. The curtain is taken down each morning when the temperature starts to rise and stored for later reuse.

African small hive beetle

In a 2007 study by Megan Halcroft, ''A. australis'' successfully demonstrated its capability to defend against invasive African

small hive beetle ''Aethina tumida,'' commonly known as small hive beetle (SHB), is a beekeeping pest. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa, but has spread to many other regions, including North America, Australia, and the Philippines. The small hive beetle primar ...

s (''Aethina tumida'') that were intentionally introduced into the nest.ResearchGate Publication 235903061
/ref> The study showed that all introduced African small hive beetle eggs were eaten by the workers or destroyed by them within 24 hours, with 96% of the eggs consumed or destroyed within the first 90 minutes. Similarly introduced small hive beetle larvae were also removed, and adult small hive beetle were also removed or rendered entirely incapacitated by entombment in resin. It was concluded that healthy, strong colonies of ''A. australis'' that kept in undamaged hives and maintained which are faced with the African small hive beetles normal hive invasion mechanism, entering through the hive entrance, are more than capable to defend themselves. The defensive behaviour of ''A. australis'' is at an advantage with that compared to the

European honey bee The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for 'bee', and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', ...

(''Apis mellifera'') against the African small hive beetle.ResearchGate Publication 226918843
/ref>

Photo Gallery

References

External links

"Meet the ''Austroplebeia'' species"

''Austroplebeia australis''
Meliponini Hymenoptera of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Insects described in 1898 {{Apinae-stub