From Deep Look.

The honeybee that sweetens your tea isn’t the only kind of bee that makes honey. More than 600 bee species across Mexico, Central and South America, and other tropical regions worldwide, also make the sweet stuff. But they don’t have stingers to defend their precious product. So, how do they keep thieves away? And what does their honey taste like?

WATCH: Meet the Bug You Didn’t Know You Were Eating:

JOIN our community on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/deeplook

DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED in San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.
—

Stingless bees build their nests mainly in the hollows of living trees, anywhere from rainforests to cities.

Deep Look filmed four species kept by stingless beekeeper Emilio Pérez in the state of Oaxaca, in southwestern Mexico. He keeps Melipona beecheii, Scaptotrigona pectoralis, Scaptotrigona mexicana and Nannotrigona perilampoides to sell their honey.

Stingless bees have evolved different ways to protect their honey and larvae from mammals and insects that want to eat them.

Every night, tiny black bees with green eyes called Nannotrigona perilampoides cover the entrance to their nest with a barrier built out of cerumen, a material that stingless bees make by mixing wax with resins they collect from trees and other plants. The smell and stickiness of the resins keep ants away.

Stingless bees also post guard bees at their nest entrance.

And when defensive strategies don’t work, they tangle in their enemies’ hair, bite them with their mandibles and sometimes even coat them with resin.

— What is the difference between a honeybee and a stingless bee?

Honeybee is the common name for a dozen or so species in the genus Apis. Apis mellifera, the Western or European honeybee, and Apis cerana, the Eastern or Asian honeybee, are kept worldwide because they’re very productive. Their workers, all female, use stingers to protect their hives.

Stingless bees, also known as meliponines, produce smaller amounts of honey than honeybees, though some species are very productive.

Both honeybees and stingless bees live in colonies with worker bees and queens.

— Does the honey of stingless bees have beneficial health properties?

In Latin America and Asia, stingless bee honey is sold as a health product to treat ailments like sore throats.

Honeys from both stingless bees and honeybees have hydrogen peroxide, which is antimicrobial.

Since stingless bees collect resins, pollen and nectar from a host of plants – many in the rainforest – scientists are studying their honey for chemicals that might have medicinal properties.

“There are really interesting chemicals in there. Some of them have known properties and it’s usually antifungal, antibacterial, even antiviral and anti-inflammatory, said entomologist David Roubik, who studied these bees at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. “If all those things apply to every kind of stingless bee, I seriously doubt it. It does depend on what kind of flowers they’ve been visiting and what kind of resin they collect.”

—+ More great Deep Look episodes:

Varroa Mites Are a Honeybee’s 8-Legged Nightmare

Honeybees Make Honey … and Bread?

—+ Shoutout!

🏆Congratulations🏆 to the following fans on our Deep Look Community Tab for correctly answering our GIF challenge!

@MissGenesisSaga
@murc.q
@Stardrop-luck
@TheBestInsects
@othnielheristiyono3505

—+ Thank you to our top Patreon supporters ($10+ per month)!

Kevin Sholar
Burt Humburg
Max Paladino
Daisuke Goto
Karen Reynolds
Chris B Emrick
Companion Cube
David Deshpande
Wade Tregaskis
Laurel Przybylski
Cristen Rasmussen
Adam Cleaver
Kevin William Walker
hoxtom
Mark Jobes
Carrie Mukaida
El Samuels
Walter Tschinkel
Dot
Joan Klivans
Cho Minsung
Jessica Hiraoka
Bethany
Noreen Herrington
Louis O’Neill
Elizabeth Ann Ditz
HMA
Levi Cai
J Schumacher
Drspaceman0
R B
Roberta K Wright
BulletproofFrog
Titania Juang
Jennifer Altschuler
Jellyman
Mehdi
SueEllen McCann
KW
STEPHANIE DOLE
MrBeeMovie
xkyoirre
Smoulder the Dragon
Jeremiah Sullivan
The Mighty X
wormy boi
Marco Narajos

—+ Follow Deep Look and KQED Science on social:

@deeplookofficial

https://www.patreon.com/deeplook
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kqedscience/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/kqedscience

—+ About KQED

KQED, an NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media.
Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios and the members of KQED.