THE SOCIAL BEES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 
By T. D. A. Cockerell 
{University of Colorado) 
The social bees of the Philippines are included in three families, 
easily distinguished as follows : 
Anterior wings with reduced venation; small, stingless bees.... Meliponidae. 
Anterior wings with three submarginal cells; larger bees, with sting in 
females and workers 1. 
1. Eyes hairy; marginal cell long (honey bees) Apidae. 
Eyes naked; large hairy bees (humble bees) Bombids. 
MELIPONID^ 
A large family of social bees, abundant in the tropics of both 
hemispheres, but absent from the temperate parts of the north- 
ern hemisphere, though extending south of the tropics in Aus- 
tralia. The only Philippine genus is the following : 
Genus TRIGONA Jurine 
The record of T. leeviceps Smith is probably erroneous. The 
following species are known to occur: 
Base of abdomen bright ferruginous, the following segments intense black, 
abruptly contrasting palavanica Cockerell. 
Abdomen not thus bicolored 1. 
1. Larger, the worker 6.5 to 7 millimeters long; abdomen ferruginous. 
luteiventris Friese. 
Smaller, worker about 3.75 millimeters long; abdomen dark. 
biroi Friese. 
Tiigona palavanica Cockerell. 
Trigona palavanica Cockerell, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1915), 
VIII, 16, 2. 
Palawan, Puerto Princesa (from Baker ) . 
Trigona luteiventris Friese. 
Trigona luteiventris Friese, Result. L’Exped. Sci. Neerlandaise a 
la Nouvelle-Guinee. Leiden (1900), 5, Zoologie, 358. 
Palawan ; also Perak. 
Trigona biroi Friese. 
Trigona biroi Friese, Termes. Fiizetek (1898), 21, 429. 
Philippines and New Guinea, according to Friese. Philippine 
Islands (C. R. Jones). 
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