Stingless bees are social bees that live in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. All species produce honey, which has been appreciated by humans since ancient times. Here, the general panorama of meliponiculture is presented. Deforestation and poor management are the main problems faced by this incipient industry. For a profitable meliponiculture, much more biological information is needed, as well as field studies in natural conditions. In the near future, we suggest that the successful use of these pollinators will promote the development of new breeding techniques and commercialization possibilities, which must be designed to be sustainable.
-This study reports on controlled experiments of the recruitment behavior and location communication in three species of stingless bee Trigona corvina, Plebeia tica and Trigona (Tetragonisca) angustula. We trained bees to a sugar water feeder at 50 m and placed identical control feeders either at different distances or in different directions with respect to the nest. Both the distance and direction of the food source were communicated very accurately in T. corvina. In P. tica and T. angustula the direction of the food source was communicated. In the distance experiments with P. tica, newcomers arrived mostly at the food source nearest to the nest. Only when the control feeder had a different odor than the experimental feeder did most recruits find the experimental feeder. We found that experienced foragers of T. corvina and P. tica guide recruits to the food source by means of pilot flights. We discuss the potential mechanisms that these species may use for location communication and the implications of these differences for resource partitioning.communication / recruitment / pilot flights / stingless bees / Trigona / Plebeia
Reproductive division of labor in advanced eusocial honey bees and stingless bees is based on the ability of totipotent female larvae to develop into either workers or queens. In nearly all species, caste is determined by larval nutrition. However, the mechanism that triggers queen development in Melipona bees is still unresolved. Several hypotheses have been proposed, ranging from the proximate (a genetic determination of caste development) to the ultimate (a model in which larvae have complete control over their own caste fate). Here, we showed that the addition of geraniol, the main compound in labial gland secretions of nurse workers, to the larval food significantly increases the number of larvae that develop into queens. Interestingly, the proportion of queens in treated brood exactly matched the value (25%) predicted by the twolocus, two-allele model of genetic queen determination, in which only females that are heterozygous at both loci are capable of developing into queens. We conclude that labial gland secretions, added to the food of some cells by nurse bees, trigger queen development, provided that the larvae are genetically predisposed towards this developmental pathway. In Melipona beecheii, geraniol acts as a primer pheromone representing the first caste determination substance identified to date.
-Melipona favosa consistently deposited anal excretions while foraging. Anal depositions were released more frequently and by more bees on artificial food sources at a greater distance from the nest. Our hypothesis that these deposits serve as scent marks is supported by experimental evidence regarding the choices made by foraging bees arriving at food sources either with or without anal excretions. The clearly reduced visitation rate in the experimental situation without depositions indicates the importance of these cues during visitation of the food source.
-Stingless bees produce considerable numbers of virgin queens over the year, most of which are superfluous and get executed by the workers. Nothing is known yet about the sign stimulus that releases the worker attacks. In the present study we investigated the queen execution process in Melipona beecheii and found in both behavioral observations and experiments with caged living virgin queens that workers are not attracted to them from a distance by means of volatile chemicals. Furthermore, worker aggression, which is obvious towards virgin queens that run through the nest excitedly with their abdomen enlarged and the wings beating, was lowered to almost zero when we made the queens "behavior-less" by experimentally killing them. Our results clearly show that the sign stimulus for releasing the execution behavior in Melipona beecheii workers is not a chemical stimulus but the virgin queens' conspicuous behavior, which, we hypothesize, could act as a direct measure of their fitness. stingless bee / Melipona beecheii / virgin queen execution / queen behavior / worker attacks
-The principal finding presented here is that Melipona costaricensis produces sounds that vary significantly in relation to varying sugar concentrations. Several components of the sounds produced, during the bees'stay inside of the hive, were positively correlated with sugar concentration: song duration, probability of sound production, duration of the long pulses and the relationship between short / long pulsed sound. Number of pulses per song was negatively correlated with sugar concentrations. The duration of all sound pulses was significantly correlated with the distance of the food source. Duration of the short pulses and interpulses were significantly affected by the distance of the food source. Sounds may contribute to the recruitment of nestmates to increasingly rich food supplies during the day. It is clear that aspects of the sound signals are correlated with profitability of food sources.sound production / sugar concentration / distance / food source /stingless bees
Stingless bees, like honeybees, live in highly organized, perennial colonies. Their eusocial way of life, which includes division of labor, implies that only a fraction of the workers leave the nest to forage for food. To ensure a sufficient food supply for all colony members, stingless bees have evolved different mechanisms to recruit workers to foraging or even to communicate the location of particular food sites. In some species, foragers deposit pheromone marks between food sources and their nest, which are used by recruited workers to locate the food. To date, pheromone compounds have only been described for 3 species. We have identified the trail pheromone of a further species by means of chemical and electrophysiological analyses and with bioassays testing natural gland extracts and synthetic compounds. The pheromone is a blend of wax type and terpene esters. The relative proportions of the single components showed significant differences in the pheromones of foragers form 3 different colonies. This is the first report on a trail pheromone comprised of esters of 2 different biogenetic origins proving variability of the system. Pheromone specificity may serve to avoid confusions between the trails deposited by foragers of different nests and, thus, to decrease competition at food sources.
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