Native Bees: the Meliponini Tribe

Homes and hives of native bee species that Granja Elisa conserves

ALL bees are important. Not just those that produce abundant honey. We visited a Guatemalan beekeeper, Hony Julajuj, who wanted us to take away this important message. In la Granja Elisa, Hony Julajuj protects and promotes the conservation of a diversity of local bee species.

We began the visit by sitting on the floor of Hony's living room where he gave us a lesson about the 7 families of bees, then the subfamilies, and then getting even more specific to the tribes. I learned that there is a wide diversity of bees-- some with stringers, some without, some that live in tribes and others alone, and some that steal honey from others! There are approximately 25,000 species globally!

Bees are important to agriculture because they pollinate plants. They move from flower to flower of different plants, drinking the nectar. As they visit a plant or flower, they get some pollen stuck to their body and then when they get to the next plant or flower, some of this pollen falls off, pollinating the plant. Therefore, they play an important role in agriculture-- making sure plants get pollinated and grow fruits.

During this visit we talked about two tribes of bees that both come from the Apidae family and the Apinae subfamily. They are Apini and Meliponini.

Learning about the diversity of bees that exist: 7 huge families, many subfamilies, many tribes, and approximately 25,000 species globally!

Many beekeepers focus on the Apini tribe of bees (apis melifera) because these bees produces large quantities the honey. They produce the honey we often buy at the supermarket. This species was introduced to Latin American by Europeans during colonization.

Meanwhile, the Meliponini tribe of bees produces less honey but they are native to the region of Central America. Because they produce less honey, they are less lucrative and therefore less valued by many beekeepers. However, the Meliponini bees have many non-lucrative benefits. For example, they pollinate many local plant species and, while they produce less honey, their native honey has more medicinal properties.

We did a taste test of honey from Apini bees and Meliponini bees. The beekeeper, Hony Julajuj, asked us to observe differences between the taste, texture, smell, color, etc. We could tell that the Apini honey was thicker and had the traditional taste of honey that we are used to from the honey we usually buy at the market. Then the Meiponini honey had a less thick texture. We identified notes of lemon and guayava and also observed that it was a bit more tart or sour. This is the "white honey" or "native honey" as they call it. It has these different notes of taste because this tribe of bees visits a diversity of native plants, and as a result, the honey also has more medicinal properties. However, the box or hive of Meiponini bees only produce 1 liter of honey per year. Meanwhile, the Apini bees produce 40 liters of honey per box or hive per year!

At Granja Elise, they keep both tribes of bees: the Apini bees and the Meliponini bees. While the Apini bees ensure a steady production of honey for a steady income for the beekeeper and his family, the Meliponini bees conserve native biodiversity and native, medicinal honey.

Below we can see the different Meliponini species that Hony keeps and protects in his house! Some live in trunks and some live in hives and others live underground! I asked him how he collected such a variety of Meliponini bees and he told me that after a while he got the reputation of being a native bee collector and if someone had a hive on their property that they wanted to get rid of, they would contact him to take it for them. We walked around to see the different bee colonies. Their houses were very interesting but also the diversity of size and color of the bees was interesting. The coffee bees (that pollinate coffee plants) in the top left picture, for example, were so, so tiny! They aren't what you expect when you think of bees. The Meliponini bees do not have stingers so they don't sting but they can bite or get into your hair so we were careful not to disturb them.

A variety of native, Meliponini bees that Granja Elisa conserves: some live in tree trunks, other in hives they construct, and others underground

A list of native bees and the plants they pollinate

This was a very interesting, informative visit about bees! Beekeeping is a great way for producers to generate income and its also a better alternative to consuming so much refined sugar (and all of the negative labor practices in the sugar industry). But it's also valuable to conserve native species and appreciate the valuable role they play in native biodiversity!