Material and methods
Sample collection .
To investigate the compositional variation of SBH and Apis spp. honey, we collected honey samples from diverse geographic
regions across the world within all five continents (Figure 1;
Supplementary Table 1 & 2) between January 2019 and July 2022. We
collected samples from different countries within each targeted region
to ensure broad representation of the environmental and ecological
diversity of stingless bee habitat. Collection sites within each country
were selected based on the availability of honey samples produced by
both stingless bees and honey bees. Honey samples were collected during
similar periods across different locations whenever possible to minimize
the impact of inter-seasonal variation in honey composition and
properties (Aleixo et al., 2017).
Stingless bee honeys (n = 150) from 48 species distributed in 23 genera
(Full list in Supplementary Table 1) in the subfamily Meliponinae were
collected from managed colonies in the Afrotropics (n = 50), the
Neotropics (n = 50) and the Indo-Malayan region (n = 50). Two extraction
methods described by Mokaya et al., 2022 were employed to harvest honey
directly from sealed pots within the nest. The stingless bee species
identity was provided by the meliponiculturists (i.e. stingless bee
beekeepers) during honey harvest and confirmed by identification of
voucher specimens. Apis mellifera (n = 69), Apis cerana (n=12), Apis florea (n=2) and Apis dorsata (n=2) honeys
were extracted from managed colonies by squeezing the honeycomb. A
volume of 10 ml of honey was collected from each colony and placed in a
sterilized container. After honey collection in the field, honey bee
samples were stored in a fridge (< 5 °C) while SBH honeys were
stored in a freezer to prevent fermentation due to their higher water
content.