Stingless Bees of the Amazon Forest: Taxonomic and Geographic Gaps and the Potential for Meliponiculture

Insects, especially those distributed in tropical forests, are greatly impacted by shortfalls in biodiversity knowledge. It is no surprise, then, that there are considerable gaps of knowledge on geographic distribution and taxonomy in the most diverse group of Amazonian bees, stingless bees (tribe Meliponini). Addressing these knowledge gaps is crucial for directing future research efforts and funding effectively, especially given the relevance of meliponiculture in the local economy. Here, we assess the geographic and taxonomic gaps in knowledge for Meliponini in the Amazon basin. We found that there are 27 genera and 239 valid species of native Meliponini in the region, but, among these, 78 species have five or less occurrence points available in open datasets of biodiversity data, while 7 have no available occurrence data. This issue stems from both a lack of collection efforts--especially in areas far from rivers and roads--and insufficient digitization of existing collections. We argue that future research should prioritize resolving taxonomic uncertainties in species complexes that suffer from both geographic and phylogenetic knowledge gaps. Some of these species are also important for meliponiculture, such as Melipona (Michmelia) seminigra and Tetragonisca angustula. Besides, to overcome the large geographical shortfall, both digitization and new collection effort should be employed, including new standardized methods to access the canopy, the largest frontier of biodiversity knowledge in the Amazon.