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.
(canopy tower, Amazonia Lodge, Peru)Camponotus sericeiventris, 'Golden Carpenter Ant'.
(Villa Carmen Lodge, Peru)'Leaf-cutter Ant'.
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).