Describes the etymology of every name ever used in Meliponine taxonomy worldwide. For the enthusiast who has ever wondered how and why specific epithets and exotic-sounding names are given. Some may not even sound scientific yet so important and relevant to the locality and some even describe their anatomy. This compendium will be very useful to students of entomology and etymology alike. It aids in remembering names in identification exercises and in historical data applications. Contains more than 206 illustrations from floral epithets, maps, portraits and colour descriptions, 1008 species names and 124 genus name entries. Scientific words symbols and abbreviations are explained and the history of languages in the evolvement of systematics unravelled.