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Tetragonula carbonaria (previously known as Trigona carbonaria)
Sugarbag Bees are Australian native honey bees, also known as Australian Stingless Bees, Native Stingless Bees, and Sweat Bees. The bees are small in size and do not string. They are black in colour with hairy extended hind legs for carrying nectar and pollens.
They build their nest inside living or dead tree trunks. This species is common in Brisbane.
I found this poor bee drowning in a bucket of water. Not knowing what species it was, and definitely not wanting to be stung, I fished it out with a small leaf and placed it in the sun to dry. It died only minutes after I took these photos.
Spotted on Mar 16, 2014
Submitted on Mar 17, 2014
2 Comments
Can you show me how it's done? Tiny breaths, I would imagine ;-) Brisbaneinsects.com say Trigona sp. and Austroplebia sp. look very similar but Trigona carbonaria is very common in Brisbane. I'll settle for this ID.
You'll have to learn BCPR. We swapped our buckets for bowls with climbable edges. Good ID job. There's so many Aus stingless bees.