Garth asked about stingless bees in Australia.
 
Our most common one is the Trigona family.  It is a social bee that is a
little smaller thn a fly.  It produces honey but it is not to my liking.  The
main reason, I believe, is that the Trigona do not have comb as such but honey
pots.  They make these pots out of a mixture of wax and propolis and I think
the strong taste is from the propolis.  I am sure that beekeepers who are used
to that strawberry clover honey I saw in the Peace River country that went 4
on the pFund (Albertians will probably tell me that was a dark sample) would
definitely not like the Trigona honey.
 
There is niche market in Australia for it.  The craze at the moment is "bush
tucker" i.e. food from native plants and Trigona honey is in this league.  The
Aboriginals here in Australia used to call the honey from the Trigona "sugar
bag".  Honey from feral Apis mellifera hives was "white man's sugar bag".
 
People are starting to box the Trigona and then later on split the hive to
make two colonies and so on.  I have been to several lectures on the Trigona
and find them very fascinating.  If anyone is interested in the boxing
technique, it was published in the Proceedings of the Second Australian and
International Bee Congress held in Australia in 1988.
 
Hope this is of interest Garth.
 
Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA