Spiny-legged Stingless bee Trigona spinipes

Brazil calls it the 'dog-bee'—wild, aggressive, and utterly untiring. This stingless bee is completely harmless despite its fierce personality, lacking stingers entirely. Its colonies can reach over 100,000 workers, building massive nests from an unusual mix: mud, resin, wax, and dung.

The resulting honey smells questionable and isn't sold commercially, yet locals prize it for folk medicine. The spiny feet in its Latin name are a dead giveaway of its hyperactive nature—earning it colorful nicknames like arapuá, irapuá, and abelha-cachorro across the Brazilian region.