Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is eusocial insects that live together in a colony. This research was aimed to study the nesting site characteristics of stingless bees in the settlement areas at Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The nesting sites were observed by purposive sampling method from July 2015 to January 2016. Four species belong to genus Tetragonula were found, namely T. fuscobalteata, T. biroi, T. sapiens, and T. laeviceps. Two spesies, T. biroi and T. sapiens are the new record in Sulawesi island. The highest abundance of stingless bees colony was T. fuscobalteata (92.26%), followed by T. biroi (4.17%), T. sapiens (2.98%), and T. laeviceps (0.59%). Nesting sites of T. fuscobalteata were found in the stone, brick wall, wooden wall, bamboo, and iron cavities, T. biroi in the wooden wall, stone, and brick wall cavities, T. sapiens in stone cavities, while T. laeviceps in wooden walls.
The genera of stingless bees play an important role as pollinators of plants. These bees are actively involved in the pollination of agricultural crops and known to have preferences in selecting flowers to pollinate. The aims of this study were to analyse the pollen load and flower constancy in Tetragonula laeviceps, Lepidotrigona terminata, and Heterotrigona itama. Each individual of species stingless bees collected and was put in a 1.5 mL micro-tube contain 0.5 mL 70% ethanol:glycerol (4:1). Pollen loads on each individual of stingless bees was counted by hemocytometer. Flower constancy of stingless bees was measured based on percentage of pollen type loaded on the body. Results showed that the pollen loads of H. itama was the highest (31392 pollen grains) followed by L. terminata (23017 pollen grains) and T. laeviceps (8015 pollen grains). These species also demonstrated different flower constancy, T. laeviceps on Poaceae flowers (76.49%), L. terminata on Euphorbiaceae flowers (80.46%), and H. itama on Solanaceae flowers (83.33%).
The giant honey bee, Apis dorsata binghami is subspecies of Apis dorsata. This species of bee was only found in Sulawesi and its surrounding islands. This study is aimed to study the distribution and characteristics of nest and nesting trees, nesting behavior of Apis dorsata binghami in the forests of Maros, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The distributions of nests were observed using a survey method to record the species and characteristics of nesting trees, as well as the conditions around the nest. Results showed that 102 nests (17 active nests, 85 abandoned combs) of A. d. binghami were found. We found 34 species belong to 27 genera in 17 families of plants as nesting sites of giant honey bee. The common tree species used as nesting sites were Ficus subulata (Moraceae), Adenanthera sp. (Fabaceae), Spondias pinnata (Anacardiaceae), Artocarpus sericoarpus (Moraceae), Alstonia scholaris (Apocynaceae), Knema cinerea (Myristicaceae), Litsea mappacea (Lauraceae), and Palaquium obovatum (Sapotaceae). The nests were found in 0-11 meters (11 nests), 11-20 meters (40 nests), and more than 21 meters (51 nests) from ground level. The nests of giant honey bee were found in sturdy and woody branches, hard to peel, the slope of the branches was <60°, and nests were protected by liane plants, foliage, or both them.
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