African Stingless Bee vs Fairyfly Wasp

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute African Stingless Bee Fairyfly Wasp
Scientific Name Meliponula bocandei Dicopomorpha echmepterygis
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Apidae Mymaridae
Size 5-8 mm 0.139-0.240 mm
Habitat Forests Underground
Diet Nectar Feeders Parasitoids
Regions West Africa, Central Africa North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

African Stingless Bee

A small dark stingless bee that nests in tree hollows and produces a prized thin honey. Colonies can number several thousand workers.

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Did You Know?

Their honey is traditionally valued in West African medicine and can sell for ten times the price of regular honey.

Fairyfly Wasp

The smallest known insect in the world at just 0.139 mm in length. Males are blind, wingless, and smaller than some single-celled organisms.

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Did You Know?

Males of this species are smaller than a paramecium — they are blind and wingless, existing solely to mate with sisters before they even leave the host egg.