Mapping the Global Range of Stingless Bees: Insights Into Their Ecological Niches and Environmental Tolerances

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aim Stingless bees are the most species‐rich group of eusocial bees, predominantly found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. However, despite their diversity and importance, significant gaps remain in our understanding of their distribution patterns and the factors driving them, as these aspects have yet to be thoroughly investigated on a global scale. In this study, we aimed to fill this gap by mapping global habitat suitability for stingless bees. Location Global. Taxon Stingless bees (Apidae:Apinae:Meliponini). Method We compiled over half a million spatiotemporal occurrence records from 361 species of stingless bees at an unprecedented scale from both public and private databases optimised using a recently published data‐cleaning workflow. Through a species distribution model approach, we assessed the relationship between stingless bee distribution, diversity, and environmental factors, ultimately characterising their ecological niche and producing the first habitat suitability maps for the bee tribe Meliponini. Results Our results reveal significant discrepancies in occurrence records across the Neotropical, the Afrotropical, and the Indo‐Malayan, Papuasian, and Australian regions, as well as among taxa. Habitat suitability hotspots were identified in tropical forests and were associated with relatively high temperatures and humidity throughout the year. Projection maps further suggested that some temperate, xeric, and savannah regions could also be suitable habitats for stingless bees. Our results rescale the known environmental niche of stingless bees, demonstrating that suitable habitats exist well beyond the tropical and subtropical boundaries typically described in the literature. Main Conclusion This study presents a novel, model‐based assessment of stingless bee distribution, revealing that it extends beyond tropical forests into drier, colder, and temperate regions more broadly than previously recognised. These findings highlight substantial gaps in ecological and distributional data, emphasising the need for taxonomic revision, targeted fieldwork, digitisation of collections, and foundational research on stingless bee ecology and evolution. Addressing these gaps will improve predictions of species responses to environmental change, inform conservation strategies, and advance understanding of stingless bees as essential providers of ecosystem services.