Species Austroplebeia essingtoni (Cockerell, 1905)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Trigona essingtoni Cockerell, T.D.A. 1905. Descriptions and records of bees. I. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 16: 216-225 [Date published 31/12/1905] [220].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 2 workers (one labelled 'type' and has registration number Hym.17.b.1138), Port Essington, NT.

Generic Combinations

• Austroplebeia essingtoni (Cockerell, 1905). —
  Moure, J.S. 1961. A preliminary supra-specific classification of the Old World meliponine bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Studia Entomologica ns 4: 181-242 [Date published 31/12/1961] [196]
• Trigona (Plebeia) essingtoni (Cockerell, 1905). —
  Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362 [Date published 31/12/1965] [230]

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gascoyne (GAS), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: mellivore, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Social insects, living in large colonies, with female reproductive and worker castes, nests of wax and resin.

General References

Barrett, P. 1995. The Immigrant Bees 1788–1898: A Cyclopaedia on the Introduction of European Honey Bees into Australia and New Zealand. Springwood : Peter Barrett 186 pp. [148] (specimens sent to England in 1842)

Dollin, A.E., Dollin, L.J. & Rasmussen, C. 2015. Australian and New Guinean Stingless Bees of the Genus Austroplebeia Moure (Hymenoptera: Apidae)—a revision. Zootaxa 4047(1): 1-73 [33, Figures 1–11, 13–17, 19–24, 28–29, 32] (redescribed, illustrated, new records)

Evans, H.E., Evans, M.A. & Hook, A. 1982. Observations on the nests and prey of Australian Bembix sand wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 30: 71-80 [Date published 31/12/1982] (as prey, illustration)

Evans, H.E. & Matthews, R.W. 1973. Systematics and nesting behavior of Australian Bembix sand wasps (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 20: iv, 1-387 [Date published 31/12/1973] (as prey)

Michener, C.D. 1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362 [Date published 31/12/1965] (as Trigona (Plebeia) essingtoni Cockerell, 1905)

Michener, C.D. 1990. Classification of the Apidae (Hymenoptera). University of Kansas Science Bulletin 54: 75-164 [Date published 31/12/1990] (generic placement, illustration)

Michener, C.D. & Houston, T.F. 1991. Apoidea. pp. 993-1000 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 2 pp. 543-1137. (illustration)

Moure, J.S. 1961. A preliminary supra-specific classification of the Old World meliponine bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Studia Entomologica ns 4: 181-242 [Date published 31/12/1961] (generic placement, description of male)

Rayment, T. 1932. The stingless bees of Australia. 6. The finding of a new species. Victorian Naturalist 49: 104-107 [Date published 31/12/1932] (taxonomy)

Rayment, T. 1953. The distribution of the bee genus, Trigona. Western Australian Naturalist 4: 22-23 [Date published 31/12/1953] (distribution)

Welch, D. 1995. Beeswax rock art in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Rock Art Research 12(1): 23-28 [23] (Aboriginal name)

History of changes