Lestrimelitta limao is a neotropical eusocial bee species found in Brazil and Panama and is part of the Apidae family.

Because of their lack of hind corbiculae, they must raid to obtain enough protein in their diet in the form of pollen and nectar.

[4] Lestrimelitta limao secrete a lemon-scented alarm allomone, from which they receive their name, in order to conduct successful raids.

Additionally they are identifiable by their lack of a functional worker corbiculae,[3] elongated gut, fewer olfactory discs, and through their unique cleptobiotic behavior.

The surface of the nests remained a thin soft layer, but during repair, an involucrum forms in which old architecture is built over using new structures.

Numerous blind sac elongate protuberances of 1-1.5 cm in height and diameter are built all over the surface.

There is high variability in these protuberances due to a lack of integration of individual activities of the workers during nest repair.

This main entrance is sealed using a waxy resin substance to prevent intruders from entering at night.

Their nests can be found high up, in hollow tree trunks, but have occasionally been seen a foot off the ground or along the sides of walls.

[8] Lestrimelitta limao scouts leave to gather information about potential victims at nearby meliponine nests.

These guard ring robbers occasionally raise their abdomens, exposing their whitish intersegmental region and fan their wings.

They release citral from their mandibular glands, an act that must be well timed relative to the progression and initiation of the raid.

In 1895, it was cited that the people of Alto Parana of Misoines use the same amount of honey produced by the “irati” (the culture’s name for L. limao) to treat the same paralysis that it causes.