Trigona fuscipennis is a stingless bee species that originates in Mexico but is also found in Central and South America.

[1] They are an advanced eusocial group of bees and play a key role as pollinators in wet rainforests.

[2] The species has many common names, including mapaitero, sanharó, abelha-brava, xnuk, k'uris-kab, enreda, corta-cabelo, currunchos, zagaño, and enredapelos.

They are easily mistaken for T. corvina though they are smaller, have slightly different mandible color and do not have erect black bristles.

[1] Specifically, they are distributed in the Neoarctic Region which includes Mexico (Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatán) and the Neotropical Region which includes Belize, Colombia (Antioquia, Bolivar, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Valle del Cauca), Costa Rica (Alajuela, Guanacaste, Limón, Puntarenas, San José), Ecuador (Esmeraldas, Guayas), El Salvador (Sonsonate), Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Chiquimula, Escuintla, Guatemala, Izabal, Suchitepéquez, Zacapa), Honduras (Atlántida, Colón, Francisco Morazán), Nicaragua (Chinandega, Chontales), Panama (Chiriquí, Coclé, Colón, Herrera, Los Santos, Panamá, Veraguas), and the Panama Canal Zone.

[5] In general, nests are constructed using wax mixed with resins, mud, feces, or other materials, otherwise known as batumen.

Nests of the genus Trigona are built in cavities that can support these batumen plates created by the bees to shield and protect the colonies.

[10] In Brazil, Trigona fuscipennis frequently visit and pollinate the Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa),[11] while in Costa Rica, they obtain nectar from the shrub Cassia biflora which is found in much of Central America and is the most common flower during the dry season of the Guanacaste area of Costa Rica.

Local inhibition is the opposite – animals are deterred from a food source because of the presence of other individuals or of odors they had left behind.

To extract pollen, they use their mandibles to make small holes at or close to the base of the tubular anthers of the flower.

[7] To protect their honey from bacterial contamination, Trigona fuscipennis bees use the enzyme glucose oxidase, stored in their hypopharyngeal glands.

Glucose oxidase works to protect from bacteria by causing an accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the honey while it ripens.

[15] In order to prevent small insects, parasites, and ants from entering the nest, T. fuscipennis workers use resin as a repellent.

Biting is also a prominent form of defense among T. fuscipennis bees and they make use of their strong, sharp five-toothed mandibles.

[16] Trigona fuscipennis bees have been discovered to engage in suicidal biting in order to defend the nest and against predators.

With respect to the Brazil nut tree, Trigona fuscipennis were even found to drive away natural pollinators like Bombus and Xylocopa when they tried to penetrate the flower.

While T. fulviventris visit isolated plants with significantly fewer flowers and clumps farther away from nests and neighbors.

[18] The species has many predators with the main being birds,[8] humans,[8] mustelids,[13] bears,[13] anteaters (Tamandua, Myrmecophaga),[13] armadillos[13] and opossums.

[2] They are also important pollinators for wild plants and agricultural crops in the tropics as well as for macadamia, coconut, mango, and chayote.

[5] In the society of the Kayapoó Indians in Brazilian Amazon, some bees, including Trigona fuscipennis are associated with crop success and thus, are encouraged to nest near village fields.

To encourage the establishment of bee nests, they create a suitable environment by digging large holes covered by dry logs.