**1. Introduction**

Among the 19 tribes of the subfamily Apinae, only Apini (honey bees) and Meliponini (stingless bees) show highly social behavior or eusociality [1]. In contrast to the mono-genus tribe of Apini that consists of 11 valid species [2], the Meliponini demonstrates the most diverse group, not only of the number of species but also of the morphology, nesting habitats, structures, and behavior among species [3, 4]. Meliponini has a wide distribution and is found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world (**Figure 1**). The highest diversity of stingless bee species is found in the Neotropical with about 391 species and 32 genera, indicating that this area might be the center of origin and dispersal of stingless bees [4, 6, 7]. By contrast, 60, 10, and 50 species have been reported in Asia, Australia, and Africa, respectively [4]. However, the advance of molecular methods has increased the studies on species complexity, and new species of stingless bees are being added [8].

Like eusocial honey bees, stingless bees form colonies with a single female queen, a few hundred to several thousand female workers, and a few hundred males (drones) [1]. The nests of stingless bees show a large variation in the size, substrate used, habitats, and landscapes [9]. In nature, different stingless bee species nest in various cavities, such as hollow tree trunks and stems, under the ground, crevices within rocks, and the nest of other insects [3, 10]. All stingless bees use the same basic material, cerumen, to construct the nest. The worker bees make cerumen by mixing the wax they produce in the wax gland located on the tergites of their

abdomen, with resins that are collected from plants [4]. In spite of high variation in size and ornaments found in the different stingless bee nests, the basic components are remarkably homogeneous across species [4], as shown in **Figure 2**. The nest connects to the outside through the entrance tube made of cerumen. Among the different species of stingless bees, the entrance tube is quite varied in shape and size (**Figure 3**), and it can be used as the characteristic to identify some of the Indo-Malayan stingless bee species.

In contrast to the Asian honey bee (*Apis cerana*), stingless bee colonies are typically long-lived [3, 4] and have low absconding behavior. Some species of stingless bee continuously occupy the original nest, and the nest lives more than

**Figure 1.** *Geographic distribution of stingless bees (amended in accordance with [4, 5]).*

#### **Figure 2.**

*Basic interior structure of a stingless bee nest: (A) a vertical brood cells, (B) honey and pollen pots, and (C) involucrum.*

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of flora [11, 12].

**Figure 3.**

**2. Stingless bees**

**2.1 General features**

*Southeast Asian Meliponiculture for Sustainable Livelihood*

20 years. These aspects of their biology make stingless bee species successful in meliponiculture in Southeast Asia, including Thailand. At least six of Thailand's native species have had nests successfully transferred into a wood box to pollinate orchard crops. Two species (*Geniotrigona thoracica* and *Tetragonula pagdeni*) have been used for honey production. Additionally, management costs have been lower than in apiculture. The meliponiculture might be useful to improve household income in the countryside of Southeast Asia, where there is a very high diversity

*Variation of entrant tube in some native stingless bee species found in Southeast Asia: (1)* Geniotrigona thoracica*, (2)* Homotrigona fimbriata*, (3)* Lophotrigona canifrons*, (4)* Tetragonilla collina*, (5)* Pariotrigona klossi*, (6)* Heterotrigona itama*, (7)* Tetragonula fuscobalteata*, (8)* Lepidotriogona terminata*, (9)* Tetrigona melanoleuca*, (10)* Tetrigona apicalis*, and (11)* Tetragonula pagdeni.

Stingless bees are one of the most diverse groups of corbiculate bees. Unlike Apini, Meliponini shows great interspecific variation not only in shape but also size,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90344*

#### **Figure 3.**

*Modern Beekeeping - Bases for Sustainable Production*

Malayan stingless bee species.

abdomen, with resins that are collected from plants [4]. In spite of high variation in size and ornaments found in the different stingless bee nests, the basic components are remarkably homogeneous across species [4], as shown in **Figure 2**. The nest connects to the outside through the entrance tube made of cerumen. Among the different species of stingless bees, the entrance tube is quite varied in shape and size (**Figure 3**), and it can be used as the characteristic to identify some of the Indo-

In contrast to the Asian honey bee (*Apis cerana*), stingless bee colonies are typically long-lived [3, 4] and have low absconding behavior. Some species of stingless bee continuously occupy the original nest, and the nest lives more than

*Geographic distribution of stingless bees (amended in accordance with [4, 5]).*

*Basic interior structure of a stingless bee nest: (A) a vertical brood cells, (B) honey and pollen pots, and* 

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**Figure 2.**

*(C) involucrum.*

**Figure 1.**

*Variation of entrant tube in some native stingless bee species found in Southeast Asia: (1)* Geniotrigona thoracica*, (2)* Homotrigona fimbriata*, (3)* Lophotrigona canifrons*, (4)* Tetragonilla collina*, (5)* Pariotrigona klossi*, (6)* Heterotrigona itama*, (7)* Tetragonula fuscobalteata*, (8)* Lepidotriogona terminata*, (9)* Tetrigona melanoleuca*, (10)* Tetrigona apicalis*, and (11)* Tetragonula pagdeni.

20 years. These aspects of their biology make stingless bee species successful in meliponiculture in Southeast Asia, including Thailand. At least six of Thailand's native species have had nests successfully transferred into a wood box to pollinate orchard crops. Two species (*Geniotrigona thoracica* and *Tetragonula pagdeni*) have been used for honey production. Additionally, management costs have been lower than in apiculture. The meliponiculture might be useful to improve household income in the countryside of Southeast Asia, where there is a very high diversity of flora [11, 12].
