Austroplebeia cincta

Description

Austroplebeia cincta is a small eusocial stingless bee first described by Mocsáry in 1898 and it is found across Australia (far North Queensland) and Papua New Guinea (East and Centre). The workers (3-4.3 mm in Papua New Guinea and 3-3.5 mm in Australia) can be distinguished by their body pilosity and broad yellow bands on the top of their thorax similar to A. essingtoni. The hair in the face and other parts of the thorax is much finer than other species. They have bold yellow markings in the face and a yellow patch on the side of the thorax making them easy to tell apart from other species. Most of the times is vivid yellow, but it can also range from dark yellow to reddish brown. Unlike the rest of Austroplebeia species, the males are darker than the workers, lacking the thorax markings. The brood chamber is distinctive where new brood cells are waxed together into concentric layers different to other species of Austroplebeia in which the brood chambers are loosely connected to one-another forming an irregular network. A. cincta also builds very long entrance tunnels (17-43cm) to avoid predation by ants. In difference to other species of Austroplebeia, A. cincta does not construct a mesh of resin droplets around the entrance. One exemption is when the nest is being threatened by predators such as green ants in which case, the bees would build a full or partial closure over their tunnel entrance. 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.