Stingless bees are a relatively old lineage and the species vary widely in their physiology, behaviour, social organization and ecology. This makes them excellent subjects for comparative studies. They also have a long history in human culture both as providers of honey and wax (or cerumen) and as pollinators of our crops. This issue aims to present the state of the art in stingless bee biology and in the management of stingless bees. Comparative papers deal with nesting biology, community ecology, caste determination, sex-ratio allocation, division of labour and exocrine glands, whereas another paper presents a unique case of polygyny in social bees. Next, recent advances made by applying molecular techniques to stingless bee biology are presented. The final two papers provide updates on the use of stingless bees in applied pollination, both in the tropics and in temperate greenhouses, and on the state of meliponiculture, the keeping of stingless bees, around the world.