NEOTROPICAL Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forest
wasps, bees & ants

The diverse ants, wasps and bees of the tropical American rainforest...

Family Formicidae, 'Ants'

There are estimated to be some 1000 species of ants in the Amazon region.

Camponotus sericeiventris, 'Golden Carpenter Ant', (canopy tower, Amazonia Lodge, Peru).

'Leaf-cutter Ant' (Villa Carmen Lodge, Peru).

Tribe Meliponini, 'Stingless Bees'

Stingless bees are found throughout the tropical forests of the world. They don't need to sting as they don't need to defend an external nest as do stinging bees; their colonies are protected by being inside trees or rock gaps, and are only accessed through a narrow resinous tube of an entrance. They may not sting, but they sometimes bite. Some species are known as 'sweat bees' as they may drink the sweat off human skin (there are some other bees that also do this and are similarly named).

A stingless bee on the arm of the author  (Amazonia Lodge, Peru).

Thinking of travelling again after everything settles down? One of the first expeditions I am booked to work on is the NZ sub-Antarctics with Silversea Expeditions and Australia with Coral Expeditions. And here is a shortened version of one of my lectures in a warmer part of the world.