What is "plebeia"

Plebeia is a small genus of stingless bees, formerly including in the genus Trigona. Most of the 35 species are placed in the subgenus (Plebeia) (s.s.), but there also are four species in the subgenus (Scaura). They differ in only minor structural details, primarily of the hind leg, from other genera that were formerly treated as constituents of Trigona.

Since its separation from the genus Trigona, the genus Schwarziana, as in the species Schwarziana quadripunctata, has also been separated into a new and distinct category after the 1943 work of Padre J.S. Moure. Today, he is occasionally referred to as "the Father of Brazilian bee taxonomy."