Heller's stingless bee
Partamona helleri
The door of its nest looks like the wide-open mouth of a big frog. When it flies home, it crashes right into the door on purpose.
Lives in
Brazil, from the south to the northeast
What does it eat?
Like other bees, it feeds on nectar and pollen from flowers.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Heller's stingless bee about 22 km/h (14 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It builds the frog-mouth door of its nest from clay mixed with sticky plant glue.
2
The outside of the door is wide, so lots of bees can fly in, but the inside is narrow, so only a few guards are needed.
3
It nests almost anywhere that is a bit sheltered: under roots, in wall holes, under air conditioners, in old bird nests and even in termite mounds.
you asked
Most asked questions about Heller's stingless bee
?Why is it called the toad's mouth bee?
Because the door of its nest is shaped like the big open mouth of a frog.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Partamona helleri
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Apidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Apidae
- Lives on
- South America
- Also known as
- Toad's mouth bee
Where the facts come from
- Partamona helleri (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Paulo Mascaretti. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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