What are social bees?
Australia has about ten species of social native bees (genera Trigona and Austroplebeia). These species have a queen bee plus hundreds of sterile female worker bees and some male drone bees in each nest. Our social native bees are stingless and usually nest inside hollow trees. Two common species are Trigona carbonaria and Trigona hockingsi. Although these bees are more primitive than commercial honey bees, they have a fascinating and complex social behaviour. For more details see the ANBRC booklet, Behaviour of Australian Stingless Bees.
