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

The species of "Austroplebeia" are difficult to separate reliably by body size or morphologyexcept for "A. cincta" which can be distinguished readily by its colouration and pilosity. 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.

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. 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.

In Australia, people keep these bees in logs or wooden hives made of boxes. They show potential as pollinators of both field and greenhouse crops
Q127768
stingless bee
Concept
Q127768
Meliponini
Concept
Q756082
Apidae
Concept
Q3177728
Jesus Santiago Moure
PER
Q2252982
A. cincta
Concept
Q14478152
Tetragonula
Concept
None
Platytrigona
UNK
None
Papuatrigona
UNK
Q14480669
Austroplebeia
Concept
Q14480669
Austroplebeia
Concept
Q14480669
Austroplebeia
Concept
Q14480669
Austroplebeia
Concept
1961-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1961
DATE
+3.0^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
3.0
NUMBER
+4.9^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
4.9
NUMBER
parent taxon
parent taxon
parent taxon
parent taxon
parent taxon