Melipona panamica

In Central America lives a special bee with no stinger. It's called Melipona panamica and it makes a rare kind of honey with a unique flavour. This is a picture of a Melipona hive.

These Melipona are very small, less than half the size of common honey bees, and the differences don't stop there. If you open up the hive, you will see right away that these bees store their honey in large capsules, not in a hexagon comb pattern.

The wax is so much darker than honey bee wax. Melipona are not bad at geometry, they can make hexagon combs for their larvae.

As the bees are stingless, it's completely safe to handle them without smoke or protective gear. You can see honey sparkling in the capsules and dripping on the table.

With the inspection completed, the bees can have their house back.