Species Tetragonula mellipes (Friese, 1898)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Trigona mellipes Mocsáry, 1898 [in Friese, H. Die Trigona-Arten Australiens. Természetrajzi Füzetek 21: 427-431 [Date published 31/12/1898] [429]].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) ZMB worker 1 ♂, (A. Dollin pers. comm.), Central Australia (as S. Australia in description).

  Type locality references:

  Friese, H. 1909. Die Bienenfauna von Neu-Guinea. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici (Zoologica) 7: 179-288 [Date published 31/12/1909] [276].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Rasmussen, C. & Cameron, S.A. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of the Old World stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) and the non-monophyly of the large genus Trigona. Systematic Entomology 32: 26–39 [36]

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

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 with irregualry arranged brrod combs in tree trunks, stone wall or wooden wall.

General References

Dollin, A.E., Dollin, L.J. & Sakagami, S.F. 1997. Australian stingless bees of the genus Trigona (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 11: 861-896 (redescription)

Franck, P., Cameron, E., Good, G., Rasplus, J.-Y. & Oldroyd, B.P. 2004. Nest architecture and genetic differentiation in a species complex of Australian stingless bees. Molecular Ecology 13: 2317-2331 (species-specific nest architecture)

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 (Tetragona) mellipes Friese, 1898)

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

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, as Trigona melipes incorrect subsequent spelling))

History of changes