(Melipona subnitida) and true uruçu (Melipona scutellaris) in the northeast of the country, mandaçaia (Melipona quadrifasciata) and yellow uruçu (Melipona rufiventris) in the south-southeast, tiúba or jupará (Melipona interrupta) and straw-bee (Scaptotrigona polysticta) in the north and jataí (Tetragonisca angustula) throughout the country are increasingly kept by small, medium, and large producers. Many other species as the Mandaguari (Scaptotrigona postica), the Guaraipo (Melipona bicolor) and the Iraí (Nannotrigona testaceicornis), to mention a few, are also reared in smaller scale. Through the cultivation of honey or selling of colonies, keeping stingless bees is an increasingly profitable activity. A single colony of species like mandaçaia and true "uruçu" can be divided up to four times a year, and each of the new colonies obtained this way can be sold for about US$100. According to the Ministry of the Environment there are presently four species of Meliponini listed in the National Red List of Threatened Species in Brazil. Melipona capixaba, Melipona rufiventris, Melipona scutellaris, and Partamona littoralis all listed as Endangered (EN). Honey production Although the colony sizes of most of these bees are much smaller than those of the European honey bee, the per-bee productivity can be quite high, with colonies containing fewer than a thousand bees being able to produce up to 4 liters (one US gallon) of honey every year. Probably the world champion in honey productivity, the manduri (Melipona marginata), lives in swarms with only about 300 individuals, but even so, it can produce up to 3 liters (.79 US gallon) of honey a year in the right conditions. One of the smallest among all bees in the genus Melipona, with lengths ranging from 6 to 7 mm (15/64" to 9/32"), Is being used in some countries such as Japan and Germany as a pollinator for greenhouses. Although they do not tend to attack if not molested, when they feel the nest is under menace, these tiny bees' reaction is violent, and their strong jaws can penetrate human skin. Species of the genus Scaptotrigona have very large colonies, with up to 20,000 individuals, and can produce from 8 to 12 liters (2-3 US gallons) of honey a year, but they are somewhat aggressive and thus not popular among Brazilian meliponine beekeepers. Some large breeders have more than 3,000 hives of the tamer but still highly productive species in the genus Melipona, such as the tiúba, the true uruçu, and