The tropical stingless bees are known to use diverse nest sites, and some species will nest within the nest of other insects like for instance ants (e.g. Trigona cilipes, Paratrigona myrmecophila) or termites (e.g. Scaura latitarsis, Trigona chanchamayoensis). However, it has not been reported before that a stingless bee, Trigona cilipes, is able to establish its nest within the nest of the social paper wasp Epipona tatua. The nest with both wasps and bees was found in secondary forest in the NE Peru, and held under observation for several weeks. Upon dissection of the nest it was documented that the bees would seal of several layers of the wasp nest, thus leaving the emerging wasps to die, whilst the bees would gradually expand their nest chamber by chewing through the floors of the wasp nest.
Species 1: Hymenoptera Apidae Trigona cilipes (stingless bee)
Species 2: Hymenoptera Vespidae Epipona tatua (paper wasp)
Keywords: nest, parasite
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