Australian native stingless Bees

in #nature7 years ago

Evening steemers,
Today I will be sharing some more photos and information about Tetragonula carbonaria, one of Australia's highly social colony Bee species. This species of Bee is the only type of Bee (that I know of) that builds their hive upwards and in a spiral formation.

tc 3.JPG
T. carbomaria entering a man made log hive with some pollen.

These lovely creatures are the most commonly kept species of native be in Queensland and New South Wales. They can be found naturally from North Queensland to the south coast of New South Wales. They need a temperature of 18C to start flying and searching for food.

tc 2.JPG
T. carbonaria deep in a Citrus flower.

Some amazing assets this Bee has are.... Superior pollination ability, I think this comes down to its size but Im not 100% on that. They are one of the easier species of Bee to keep and propagate. They are a fairly good producer of Honey but nothing in comparison to Apis mellifera (Euro Honey Bee.) They are also utilised by many Macadamia farmers in Australia.

tc1.JPG
T. carbonaria collecting some Citrus pollen.

I have a few bits of footage of these legends in man made and natural hives which I will post once I get my head around how to use d.tube.......
Thanks for taking the time to read if you made it this far :-)

Check out these links for some more detailed information:
http://www.sugarbag.net/
https://www.beethecure.com.au/

Happy gardening,
Sam.

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Interesting! Looks like a fly. Stingless .

Interesting post!
So these bees dont sting?
These would be the recommended species to start beekeeping with if one was interested in that hobby - just wondering?

No these Bees do NOT sting and yes if you live in the right climate they would be a perfect choice!

Regarding the climate - does it have to be a min of 18 degrees all year? Would the bees be ok with a SA winter?

I am not sure sorry as I am from Brisbane, Queensland but if you check this link out it should have the info you need: http://www.sugarbag.net/

Great thanks for your help - my nephew was considering beekeeping as a hobby

Awesome,its a great idea! There will be a Bee suitable for your area Im sure!

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