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[[File:Pollinating bee covered with pollen.jpg|thumb|Unidentified Meliponini bee, covered with [[pollen]], visiting a flower of the vegetable sponge gourd (''Luffa cylindrica'') in [[Campinas]], [[Brazil]]]]
Brazil is home to several species of stingless bees belonging to Meliponini, with more than 300 species already identified and probably more yet to be discovered. They vary greatly in shape, size, and habits, and 20 to 30 of these species have good potential as honey producers. Although they are still quite unknown by most people, an increasing number of beekeepers have been dedicated to these bees throughout the country. This activity has experienced significant growth since August 2004, when national laws were changed to allow native bee colonies to be freely marketed, which was previously forbidden in an unsuccessful attempt to protect these species. Nowadays the capture or destruction of existing colonies in nature is still forbidden, and only new colonies formed by the bees themselves in artificial traps can be collected from the wild. Most colonies marketed are artificially produced by authorized beekeepers, through division of already existing captive colonies. Besides honey production, Brazilian stingless bees such as ''Trigona spinipes'' serve as major pollinators of tropical plants and are considered the ecological equivalent of the honey bee.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Monogamy in large bee societies: a stingless paradox|url = http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00114-014-1149-3|journal = Naturwissenschaften|date = 2014-01-26|issn = 0028-1042|pages = 261-264|volume = 101|issue = 3|doi = 10.1007/s00114-014-1149-3|language = en|first = Rodolfo|last = Jaffé|first2 = Fabiana C.|last2 = Pioker-Hara|first3 = Charles F. dos|last3 = Santos|first4 = Leandro R.|last4 = Santiago|first5 = Denise A.|last5 = Alves|first6 = Astrid de M. P.|last6 = Kleinert|first7 = Tiago M.|last7 = Francoy|first8 = Maria C.|last8 = Arias|first9 = Vera L.|last9 = Imperatriz-Fonseca}}</ref>
Also, much practical and academic work is being done about the best ways of keeping such bees, multiplying their colonies, and exploring the honey they produce. Among many others, species such as ''jandaíra'' (''Melipona subnitida'') and true ''uruçu'' (''Melipona scutellaris'') in the northeast of the country, ''mandaçaia'' (''Melipona quadrifasciata'') and yellow ''uruçu'' (''Melipona rufiventris'') in the south-southeast, ''tiúba'' or ''jupará'' (''Melipona compressipes manaosensis''), straw-bee (''Scaptotrigona polysticta''), and ''[[Scaptotrigona postica]]'' in the north and ''jataí'' (''[[Tetragonisca angustula]]'') throughout the country are increasingly kept by small, medium, and large producers. Through the cultivation of honey or selling of colonies, keeping stingless bees is an increasingly profitable activity. A single colony of species like mandaçaia and true "uruçu" can be divided up to four times a year, and each of the new colonies obtained this way can be sold for about US$100.
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