African Stingless Bee vs Iris Sawfly

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute African Stingless Bee Iris Sawfly
Scientific Name Meliponula bocandei Rhadinoceraea micans
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Apidae Tenthredinidae
Size 5-8 mm 6-8 mm
Habitat Forests Ponds & Lakes
Diet Nectar Feeders Herbivores
Regions West Africa, Central Africa Europe
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.

Iris Sawfly

A small, metallic blue-black sawfly whose grayish larvae with dark heads feed along the edges of iris leaves, producing distinctive notching damage.

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Did You Know?

Larvae feed along leaf edges in a perfectly straight line, creating neat rectangular notches that are diagnostic for this species.