[1] These secretions are likely derived from the bees' diet, which consists of carrion eaten outside the nest, and resulted in the belief that they produce what is known as "meat honey".

[3] The three species in this group are: Vulture bees are reddish-brown in colour, featuring only a few lighter hairs on their thorax, and range in length from 8–22 millimetres (0.31–0.87 in).

The vulture bee is sometimes said to produce a so-called "meat honey", but this is a misnomer resulting from scientific uncertainty, due to historic confusion of multiple species, each with a slightly different method of processing.

[2][1] In one detailed study of Trigona hypogea in Brazil, the vulture bees mixed sugary plant products with a proteinaceous paste from regurgitated meat, and let it mature to form a sweet substance that was used as food; however, the two resources were initially kept in separate "pots" in the colony, neither being true honey (i.e., not derived from nectar), but they were then mixed together.

In Trigona hypogea, when a forager returns to the nest, the regurgitated material derived from animal carcasses is deposited in special pots and later mixed with sugary plant products.

The genus also includes species known to have worker bees retain the ability to produce viable male eggs, such as Trigona spinipes (unless working in close proximity to the queen).