''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of

stingless bee Stingless bees, sometimes called stingless honey bees or simply meliponines, are a large group of bees (about 550 described species), comprising the tribe Meliponini (or subtribe Meliponina according to other authors). They belong in the family A ...

s found in the

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

s, from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced

pollen basket The pollen basket or corbicula (plural corbiculae) is part of the tibia on the hind legs of certain species of bees. They use the structure in harvesting pollen and carrying it to the nest or hive. Other species of bees have scopae instead. Ety ...

s. Unlike most

eusocial Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generat ...

bees, they do not gather their own

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

and

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

from flowers, thus are not

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the maj ...

s, 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 ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Oliveira and Marchi, 2005) *'' Lestrimelitta ehrhardti''(Friese, 1931) *'' Lestrimelitta glaberrima''(Oliveira and Marchi, 2005) *'' Lestrimelitta glabrata''(Camargo and Moure, 1990) *''

Lestrimelitta guyanensis ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Roubik, 1980) *''

Lestrimelitta huilensis ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Gonzalez and Griswold, 2012) *''

Lestrimelitta limao ''Lestrimelitta limao'' is a neotropical eusocial bee species found in Brazil and Panama and is part of the Apidae family. It is a species of stingless bees that practices obligate nest robbing. They have never been spotted foraging from flowers ...

'' (Smith, 1863) –''irati'' *''

Lestrimelitta maracaia ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Marchi and Melo, 2006) *''

Lestrimelitta monodonta ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''( Camargo and Moure, 1990) *''

Lestrimelitta mourei ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Oliveira and Marchi, 2005) *''

Lestrimelitta nana ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Melo, 2003) *''

Lestrimelitta niitkib ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Ayala, 1999) *''

Lestrimelitta opita ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Gonzalez and Griswold, 2012) *''

Lestrimelitta rufa ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(Friese, 1903) *''

Lestrimelitta rufipes ''Lestrimelitta'' is a genus of stingless bees found in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, with about 20 known species. They are small, shining black species from 4 to 7 mm in length, with rounded heads and reduced pollen b ...

''(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'' Meliponini Bee genera {{Apinae-stub