Table 1.

Salient descriptors used by inhabitants from the north of Misiones to describe and identify stingless bees.

Criteria	Descriptive Traits	Description
Organoleptic (ORG)	Size	General size or body parts' size ("bigger than yateí").
	Color	General color, body parts or spotted pattern.
	Texture	Characteristics others than color or shape ("bright").
	Shape	Shape traits ("it looks like an ant", "plain abdomen").
	Smell	Produced when they attack or are held in hand.
Ethological (ETHO)	Behavior in the nest	Docile: They do not attack and maintain their activity when a person is close to the nest.
		Aggressive: They attack when a person is close to the nest ("knocks", "bites", "piss", "causes a burning sensation").
		Shy: They do not attack or stop their activity (immediate retreat) when a person is close to the nest ("no bees enter or leave the nest").
	Forage	Non-hygienic habits: They stand on excrement, urine, dead animals or people's sweat ("they are filthy").
		Cleptoparasitism: They steal honey or wax from other stingless bees.
	Defense	Defensive strategies against other insects or non-human enemies ("yateí cut enemies' wings").
	Flight	Flight style or type: ("it is fast" or "it flies like a butterfly").
		Flight sound: Sound produced inside the nest ("they snore like a bee") and/or when they fly ("they buzz").
Piquera (PIQ)	Materials	Type (resin, mud), hardness ("iratin [piquera] melts in the sunlight"), color and smell.
	Shape	Shape traits ("like a 'charuto' [cigar]"), or ornamentation designs made from resin in colonies without prominent piquera ("it has like rays", "it looks like concreting").
	Size	Length (short, long), width (thick or thin) and general size.
	Diameter	Thin: Thickness similar to that of bees ("they enter one at a time").
		Thick: Much thicker than the thickness of bees ("many enter at a time").
	Number	More than one type of piquera.
Nest	Substrate	Interior (underground): Underground nests of variable depth.
		Interior (holes): On trees, constructions or other structures.
		Exterior: External nest placed on branches of trees.
	Shape	Shape traits ("looks like a ball", "like a pot").
	Colony size	Numerous: Large number of individuals ("a lot work together").
		Small: Small number of individuals ("just a few").
	Materials	Type (wax, mud), hardness, color and smell.

Examples are included (between brackets)