Stingless Bee - Stingless Bees of Brazil

Stingless Bees of Brazil

Brazil is home to several species of stingless bees belonging to meliponini tribe, with more than 300 species already identified and probably more yet to be discovered. 20 to 30 of these species have good potential as honey producers, and there are an increasing number of beekeepers dedicated to these bees. This activity has experienced significant growth throughout the country since August 2004, when national laws were changed to allow colonies of native species to be freely marketed, which was previously forbidden in an unsuccessful attempt to protect the species. Nowadays the capture or destruction of existing colonies in nature is still forbidden, and only new colonies formed by the bees themselves in artificial traps can be collected from the wild. Most colonies marketed are artificially produced by authorized beekeepers, through division of already existing captive colonies.

Also, much practical and academic work is being done about the best ways of keeping such bees, multiply their colonies and exploring the honey they produce. Among many others, species like jandaíra (Melipona subnitida) and true-uruçu (Melipona scutellaris) in the northeast of the country, mandaçaia (Melipona quadrifasciata) and yellow uruçu (Melipona rufiventris) in the south-southeast, jupara (Melipona compressipes manaosensis) and straw-bee (Scaptotrigona polistycta) in the north and jataí (Tetragonisca angustula) throughout the country are increasingly kept by small, medium and large producers. Through cultivation of honey or selling the colonies themselves, keeping stingless bees is an increasingly profitable activity. A single colony of species like mandaçaia and true-uruçu can be divided up to 4 times a year, and each of the new colonies obtained this way can be sold by about US$100.