Rearing of the 'Xunan-kab' (Melipona beecheii) had been practised
widely by the Mayans of the Yucatan peninsula long before the
arrival of the Spanish in the New World, and had been a culturally
and economically important activity in that region. Melipona beecheii
is kept almost exclusively in traditional log hives. Beekeepers using
this bee, from the Mayan zone in Quintana Roo state, Mexico,
testify to a 93% decrease in hives during the past quarter century.
Despite concern that stingless beekeeping is going extinct, there
were scant data to examine direct impact of competition from feral
African Apis mellifera, deforestation, hurricane damage and lack of
instruction and incentive for new stingless beekeepers. The study
taken over 24 years suggests that bees are threatened both by
environmental changes and by inappropriate management and
conservation efforts. Overharvest and failure to transfer colonies
to hives or divide them are serious impediments. Melipona beecheii
is one of serveral hundred species - almost all tropical meliponines
produce honey. This bee's natural range is from Mexico to Costa
Rica. Causes for the demise are briefly enumerated below:
1. Decline of meliponiculture activity;
The most alarming findings were that, out of 755 known colonies
in 1981,
only 90 have survived or been replaced. For the last 14 years
the stingless beekeepers have been losing, on average, about 22
colonies each year. Continuing that trend, by the year 2008 there
will be no domesticated colonies left at all. The younger generation
of potential beekeepers are understandably profit-motivated.
Many are familiar with management of Apis mellifera and no longer
appreciate the cultural or ecological value of keeping 'old-fashioned
traditions and bees alive.
2. Loss of habitat;
Xunan-kab foragers most often visit the flowers of shrubs and trees,
rather than low vegetation such as herbaceous plants, while Apis
bees visit all of the above. Melipona beecheii is rare in the wild.
Its nests occur only in hollows within now relatively rare trees of
30+ cm girth.
3. Competition between Melipona beecheii and honeybees;
There is little economic incentive to continue keeping Xunan-kab
and solve the discouraging problems it faces. Xunan-kab colonies
now produce an average of two kg of honey each year, compared
with 20-30 kg produced by Apis mellifera in the region (and aver-
ages of 130 kg by well-managed Africanized honey bee colonies
in heavily forested French Guiana).
4. Predation;
It was also observed that colonies were decimated or so weakened
in size until no longer viable, succumbing to attacks of ants, phorid
flies, toads or Eira barbara ('tayra', a Neotropical weasel); this
happened mainly with colonies that were not checked regularly.
5. Marketability;
Finally, the specific problems for securing a market for stingless
bee honey are many. First, the Codex Alimentarius allows only
honey from Apis mellifera to be marketed for human consumption
in Europe. Second, hygienic standards are not always applied
to harvesting procedures for stingless bee colonies, which results
in lower quality and marketability of the honey. Third, there has
been little concerted strategy for the marketing of Xunan-kab
honey.

Source: "Bee World", vol.86, No. 2, June 2005.