Stingless bees, in a general way, build more complex nests than Apis mellifera nests, although there is a great variety of forms, size and place of construction.
In the construction of the brood comb, storage pots and involucrum, most species use cerumen, a mixture of wax and plant resin. Some species, as Leurotrigona muelleri and Trigonisca spp., use pure wax. The bees that build exposed nests (such as Trigona spinipes) use leaves and other vegetation parts mixed with resin. Partamona spp. use mud and sometimes feces in the construction of their semi-exposed nests.
Most stingless bees build ther nests in empty trunks or in hollow branches. Some species use mainly dead trees, including wood posts of fences. Even though the great majority of species use closed cavities to build their nests, some build completely exposed nests such as the species of the genus Trigona. Some species of Partamona build semi-exposed nests in large cavities, bushes and abandoned bird nests.
Some stingless bees construct underground nests using naturally abandoned ant nests and cavities under plant roots. This is the habit of mulatinha-do-chão (Schwarziana quadripunctata), mirim-do-chão (Paratrigona spp.), mandaçaia-do-chão (Melipona quinquefasciata) and mombuca (Geotrigona spp.).
A few stingless bees build their nests inside active termite nests, such as Scaura latitarsis and some species of Partamona. Other species that normally build nests in empty tree trunks have occasionally been found in termite nests such as Melipona quadrifasciata, Melipona bicolor and Tetragonisca angustula.
It is important to realize that termite nests, after they are dead, constitute a protective cavity that is also used commonly by Apis mellifera to build their nests.
A stingless bee nest has an entrance normally build of wax and mud. The form of the entrance varies a lot from one species to another and it is useful in the orientation of the bees and defense of the nest. After the entrance, there is a passageway, generally built of propolis, ending in the storage pots. In Partamona, between the entrance and the nest itself there is a structure called the "vestibule" that is similar to the nest and disorients parasites and predators, sometimes acting as an effective defense device. Next to the entrance and in many other locations there are deposits of resin, used frequently by the bees.
The storage pots are built with cerumen and normally have an oval shape. Some species such as Frieseomelitta varia build honey pots different from the pollen pots; the latter are longer and larger than the honey pots, which have an oval shape. The brood comb can be horizontal (in the subfamily Meliponinae, only Dactylurina staudingeri, an African species, has vertical combs as those in Apis mellifera) or in a cluster, in which the brood cells lack common walls. This kind of brood cell arrangement can be found in moça-branca (Frieseomelitta varia), mocinha-preta (Frieseomelitta silvestrii), and others.
The brood comb and sometimes the storage pots are, in many species (such as Frieseomellita varia and Frieseomellita silvestrii), enveloped by a series of membranes of cerumen which is called the involucrum and is important for thermoregulation.
The brood combs are made of cerumen, suspended and separated by connectives and pillars. Partamona cupira has permanent pillars that pass through all the brood area and are made of mud, resin and wax. The species that construct nests in underground cavities isolate it using a series of membranes of batumen constituted of resin, mud and wax. Exposed nests also have a involucrum constituted of resin and other vegetation parts such as in arapuá (Trigona spinipes) or resin and mud as in Partamona cupira.
In the construction of the brood comb, each cell is fully built and provisioned before oviposition by the queen, after which the workers close the cell, not having contact with the new bee until it emerges. After the larva finishes feeding, it makes a silk coccon, and the workers gnaw away the cerumen of the cell. That is the reason why new brood combs have the color of cerumen and are fragile, while the older combs, where the larvae have already spun cocoons, are clearer in the upper part and are more resilient.
When the bees build horizontal combs, they have a concentric growth. In some bees, the combs may be arranged in a spiral.
The number of eggs laid per day varies considerably within a species and from one species to another according to the situation of the colony, especially in relation to the food available.
The amount of honey stored in the colony varies enormously among the species, with some such as Melipona scutellaris and Melipona compressipes, which store more than 8 litres during a year, and others like Plebeia spp. that store only a few cubic centimeters.