Euglossa imperialis is a bee species in the family Apidae. It is considered to be one of the most important pollinators to many Neotropical orchid species in mainland tropical America. It is also one of the most common non-parasitic euglossine species in lowland Panama. E. imperialis, unlike many other bee species, is not a social bee in the sense that there is no apparent morphological or physiological division within the species to distinguish individual bees to be part of a worker or reproductive caste.

Euglossa imperialis is a bee species of the Euglossini tribe and Apidae family. The Euglossini are better known as "orchid bees," as they are known to interact almost exclusively with flowering orchid species as pollinators, and are known to search for nectar and chemical fragrances as well. The Euglossini tribe consists of approximately 240 species grouped into five genera—Euglossa, Eufriesea, Eulaema, Exaerete, and Aglae— all of which are spread from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. These euglossine bees comprise up to around 25% of local bee communities in lowland wet forests in this region. The Euglossini tribe is also part of the larger Apinae sub-family, which contains many of the known advanced social bees, such as the honey bees, stingless bees, and bumblebees; however, bees of the Euglossini tribe are non-social in nature, meaning that they have not developed a colonial structure with Queen-drone interactions.

Temporal variation in the structure of euglossine bee communities reveal the relative contributions of varying ecological processes to the shaping of insect communities which include resource competition and habitat filtering. Specifically, phylogenetic diversity changes across latitudinal gradients, in which the more seasonal climates have decreased phylogenetic diversity. It has therefore been theorized that the same ecological processes that drive phylogenetic diversity geographically, also shape communities at the temporal level within a given community.

Euglossa imperialis can be identified from other bees by its relatively large size and relatively sparse hairs, which expose their brightly metallic color. Males have conspicuous white marks around the mouth, whereas similar markings are diminutive in females. Males also have a broad hind tibia, rhomboid or triangular in shape and rounded distally, used as a storage organ for aromatic materials. Male forelegs have five tarsal segments, which have dense tufts of hairs (or ‘brushes’) on the ventral surface, that are useful for picking up oily liquids by capillarity. An elongated pit covered by long hairs (a ‘scar’) can also be seen on the outer rear surface of the tibia, which shows two lobes, each of which has an opening into the tibial organ. The wall of the tibial organ is extremely wrinkled, on which the inner surface has many large branched hairs. Males also display a characteristic pattern of short, dense hairs on the outer surface of the mid tibia, with one or two small hairy patches within a much larger patch. All E. imperialis are known to have relatively long tongues in comparison to other bee species. They also have two widely separated tufts of hair without any obvious tubes or slits on the second (metasomal) sternum.

Limited to mainland Tropical America, E. imperialis range from northern Mexico to Paraguay and Argentina.

Male territories occur in light gaps in the forest, including treefalls and trails, and are almost nonexistent in areas of uninterrupted forest. Approximately half of these territories are solitary, of which males tend to be attracted to treefalls which have more potential territory sites. Each territory usually consists of a perch on the trunk of a tree about 0.5 to 1.5 m above the ground, on which the male is displayed, and a route which the male "patrols" to and from the perch. Perches are normally located on tree trunks located on the edge of treefalls. Patrol routes normally extend out into the whole open treefall space. However, it has been noted that territories do not contain flowering plants, sources from which to collect aromatic material (such as tree wounds), nest sites, or nest-building materials. Males also had a preference for use straight, smooth-barked trees about 5 to 10 cm in diameter, with an unobstructed view from the perch site. Studies have also shown that perches for E. imperialis were almost always in the shade receiving between 27.8 and 92.9 lux on sunny days and 14.8 to 46.4 lux on overcast days.

Euglossa imperialis construct their nests with cells clumped in a single cluster, like bumble bee (Bombus) nests, such that it forms a globular structure rather than a comb structure. The nest chamber is approximately spherical in shape with a diameter of 13 cm. The walls are lined with a dark resinous substance thick on the floor and thin at the ceiling. The oldest cells form the bottom layer of the nest, with new cells added on top of each layer. The larvae typically occupy the older cells with eggs in the newer cells. The inner walls of the cells are smooth, whereas the exterior is rough.

Since E. imperialis is not a social bee and lacks a worker cast, the nest is constructed communally. A nest for E. imperialis, is thus the product of a combined effort of many generations of "selfish" individual behavior, indicating that rather than having a Queen dictate the construction and maintenance of the nest, each individual bee contributes to the well-being of a communal nest because it benefits each individual bee's chance of survival to propagate its genes to future generations of progeny.