Austroplebeia

Austroplebeia is a stingless bee (Meliponini) genus in the family Apidae. The genus was erected by Jesus Santiago Moure in 1961.^[1][2] The genus comprises five described species endemic to Australia and New Guinea.^[3] Austroplebeia are more closely related to the African stingless bees than rest of the species found in Asia and Australia.^[4]

Austroplebeia
Female Austroplebeia australis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Apidae
Tribe:	Meliponini
Genus:	Austroplebeia Moure, 1961

The species of Austroplebeia are difficult to separate reliably by body size or morphology^[5] except for A. cincta which can be distinguished readily by its colouration and pilosity.^[6] There are also few differences in their nest structures. This has hindered taxonomic studies to date and no workable key exists for the Austroplebeia species.^[7]

All species are small, black and robust (length: 3.0–4.9 mm) and differ from other stingless bee species that co-occur in the same region (i.e. Tetragonula, Platytrigona, Papuatrigona) by the presence of cream or yellow markings in their head and thorax.^[3] Most species construct their nests largely from wax, unlike most stingless bees, they use propolis sparingly. They construct a fine, lacy curtain of resin droplets over their nest entrance at night in order to protect against ants and other predators.^[8][9]

In Australia, people keep these bees in logs or wooden hives made of boxes.^[8][9] They show potential as pollinators of both field and greenhouse crops^[10][11][12]

Species

In alphabetical order:^[13]

• Austroplebeia australis (Friese, 1898)
• Austroplebeia cassiae (Cockerell, 1910)
• Austroplebeia cincta (Mocsáry, 1898)
• Austroplebeia essingtoni (Cockerell, 1905)
• Austroplebeia fujianica (Engel, 2021)
• Austroplebeia magna (Dollin, Dollin, & Rasmussen, 2015)

Gallery

• Austroplebeia worker faces
• 
  A. cincta (New Guinea population) worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
• 
  A. cincta (Queensland population) worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
• 
  A. essingtoni worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
• 
  A. australis worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
• 
  A. cassiae worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm
• 
  A. magna worker face. Scale bar = 0.25 mm