These black flying insects have eaten the newly emerging leaf buds of three of my young plumerias. This is very distressing but I am told that the plants should produce new buds. However one of our plumeria experts would like to identify this insect if possible.
Location Northern Guatemala, Central America.
These could be one of the stingless bees in the genus Trigona; they are known to damage the buds of several plant species - see http://tinyurl.com/yycwf8q
Mayan stingless bees of Central America
The stingless bees Melipona beecheii and M. yucatanica are the only native bees cultured to any degree in the Americas. They were extensively cultured by the Maya for honey, and regarded as sacred. These bees are endangered due to massive deforestation, altered agricultural practices (especially insecticides), and changing beekeeping practices with the arrival of the Africanized honey bee, which produces much greater honey crops.
Many thanks for the pointer. This is a brief extract from Wiki. There is a large amount of information on the web about these neotropical stingless bees.
I have lived here for 16 years and have seen these small bees on some of my flowers apart from the usual honey bees but not paid them any attention.
Their reason for attacking the buds is not clear but perhaps they are after the sap for wax production.
