Tetragonisca angustula is a small eusocial stingless bee found in México, Central and South America.

[1] It is known by a variety of names in different regions (e.g., jataí, yatei, jaty, virginitas, angelitas inglesas, españolita, mariola, ramichi, chipisas, virgencitas, and mariolitas).

[2] Tetragonisca angustula is a very small bee and builds unobtrusive nests, allowing it to thrive in urban areas.

[7] Along with all other bees in the tribe Meliponini, it is stingless and has a reduced wing venation and penicilla (bristles on the leg).

[2] Guard bees, which make up about 1–6% of each hive, weigh more than foragers by about 30% and have smaller heads, as well as longer hind legs.

Remarkable for the stingless bee clade, T. angustula has a pronounced size dimorphism between the queen and worker castes.

[1] In the Atlantic rainforest, deforestation for sugar cane plantations is extensive and contributes to the rarity of T. angustula in that area, as well as the stingless bee Melipona scutellaris.

The largest colony cycle occurs during the summer in South America, with most of the new brood hatching between December and March.

Before swarming, scout bees explore suitable cavities in the area surrounding the mother nest.

After the pre-existing container is ready to be inhabited, the workers build several horizontal brood combs in the center of the nest.

Larger aggregations might also be more successful in quickly attracting a queen due to the increased amount of male pheromone present, making the nuptial flight shorter.

[9] Like many other stingless bee species, T. angustula workers take part in different activities based on their age.

The first tasks that worker bees perform include courting the queen (surround her in the hive) and helping with oviposition (see section on nursing).

Young bees (1 to about 15 days old) also assist with putting cerumen on brood combs and cleaning the nest.

[13] Subsequent research has shown at least 9 other species possess such "soldiers," including T. fiebrigi and Frieseomelitta longipes, with the guards not only larger, but also sometimes a different color from ordinary workers.

[8] Workers, males, soldiers, and queens are all morphologically distinct in T. angustula and these differences result from the varied developmental environments found in the cell.

Olfactory cues have been tested in relation to both nestmate recognition[3] and in foraging location,[16] but no strong links could be made.

[18] In many species of stingless bees foragers recruit nestmates to profitable food patches of pollen or nectar.

[16] Tetragonisca angustula bees visit a large number of plants to find food.

[21] The wax tube entrance to each T. angustula hive provides a great advantage in respect to protection against invaders.

[8] Tetragonisca angustula guard bees are extremely good at differentiating between foreign individuals.

[3] Tetragonisca angustula guards are also much better than the average worker bee at recognizing their nestmates at the hive entrance.

This demonstrates the importance of individual recognition during specific times, but also shows that T. angustula bees do not generally distinguish between their nestmates and other members of their species.

The worker queen conflict arises over competition to lay eggs in the fixed number of cells in the nest.

Nests are widely traded in Latin America, making T. angustula among the more cultivated species of stingless bees.

[24] Honey and propolis, a glue like substance that bees use as sealant, collected by T. angustula have some health benefits for humans.

The honey and propolis contain various chemicals that show antibacterial activity towards an infection causing bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus.

The Atlantic Rainforest has very high levels of biodiversity but human fragmentation of the forest is leading to huge loss.

As seen above, T. angustula bees are quite important for pollinating many plants and providing good quality honey.

Steps are taken to understand the diet of these bees and their nest sites in order to keep them from dying out in an area.