Bug FAQCharcoal Stingless Bee
Tetragonula carbonaria · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
Also called: Sugarbag Bee, stingless carbon bee
The charcoal stingless bee is a medium-sized bee, with workers about 4 mm long and wings just over 4 mm. It is native to the north-east coast of Australia and can be found as far south as Bega, New South Wales. These bees live in open forests, woodlands, and in urban areas they often nest in telecommunications pits or water meters.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are mostly black with a brownish tint on the legs and are covered in tiny hairs.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Workers measure 3.9 to 4.3 mm in body length and 4.1 to 4.6 mm in wing length. Compared with other stingless bees, they are of medium size.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
Their stings are vestigial and do not function for defense.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
In cities they may occupy telecommunications pits and water meters when natural sites are scarce.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults collect nectar and pollen for food. They also gather resin to build their nest structure.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Queens mate only once in their lifetime.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
These bees are strong fliers and can travel up to about 1 km from their nest.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Their range extends south to Bega in southern New South Wales.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
They are almost identical to T. hockingsi, differing mainly in nest architecture. They share high morphological similarity with closely related species.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
Where do they nest in urban areas?
In cities they often use telecommunications pits and water meters as nesting sites.
Source: Wikipedia
What do charcoal stingless bees eat?
They feed on nectar and pollen and also collect resin for building their nests.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragonula_carbonaria
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.