As their name indicates, these bees do not sting. The two most common species are Austroplebeia australis and Tetragonula carbonaria. They are very tiny and black with white markings. There are slight variations in the markings between the two and other species may have white or yellow markings.
They look a bit like wasps with their cinched-in waists. They are social bees and often build hives in tree hollows.
These bees defend the hive from the small hive beetle by smothering it in a sticky resin produced from the sap of trees. This resin is already used as part of the hive construction.
Adult size: 3-5mm
Out and about
When plants are flowering.
There are about 12 species native to Australia, preferring the tropical climates of Queensland, northern Northern New South Wales, and the northern regions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Tetragonula species tend to live in coastal areas.
Reproduction and Life cycle
They have the same typical social structure as honey bees with a queen bee and hundreds of sterile females which are the worker bees.
