Diagnóstico da arquitetura de ninho de Oxytrigona tataira (Smith, 1863) (Hymenoptera: Meliponinae)

Abstract

The Oxytrigona tataira stingless bee, commonly known as "tataíra" or "caga-fogo" bee, is a widely distributed species in Brazil. It is known by its great defensive behavior that makes difficult its inclusion in stingless bee beekeeping projects. This fact reflects directly in the lack of interest for its conservation in the ecosystems, as well as in the shortage of studies regarding intrinsic biological aspects to this species. The aim of this work was to describe O. tataira nest architecture, besides supplying additional information related to its behavior. Information regarding the colony entrance; brood area; number, dimensions and arrangement of the combs; royal and worker rearing cells dimensions; pillars height; food area; dimensions and volume of the honey storage pots; dimensions of pollen storage pots; weight of the stored pollen mass; determination of honey humidity; and population estimation are presented.Keywords A abelha Oxytrigona tataira, vulgarmente conhecida por "tataíra" ou "caga-fogo", é uma espécie de ampla distribuição no Brasil, conhecida pela sua grande defensividade que acaba por dificultar a sua inclusão em projetos de meliponicultura. Este fato reflete diretamente na falta de interesse pela sua conservação nos ecossistemas bem como na escassez de estudos voltados a aspectos intrínsecos de sua biologia. O objetivo deste trabalho foi descrever a arquitetura de ninho de O. tataira, além de fornecer informações adicionais relacionadas ao seu comportamento. Informações referentes à entrada da colônia; área de cria; número, dimensões e arranjo dos favos; dimensões de realeiras e células de cria; altura de pilares; área de alimento; dimensões e volume dos potes de mel; dimensões dos potes de pólen; peso da massa de pólen armazenada nos potes; determinação da umidade do mel; e estimativa da população desta espécie são apresentadas.Palavras-chave: meliponicultura, característica de ninho, abelha sem ferrão.

The use of smoke in the control of the defensive behavior of tiuba bees

“…The most popular species of bees in Brazil are the ones belonging to the subtribe Meliponina, the species of this subtribe are usually known as stingless bees, indigenous bees, native bees, or meliponines. There are about 200 species of stingless bees cataloged in the country (SOUZA et al, 2007).…”

“…However, this technique is not usual in meliponiculture and few studies have aimed at proving the efficiency of smoke to control the defensive behavior of native bees, even though there are reports that some species tend to be highly defensive (SOUZA et al, 2007).…”

Karyotypic description of the stingless bee Oxytrigona cf. flaveola (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponina) of a colony from Tangará da Serra, Mato Grosso State, Brazil

“…Bees of this genus are commonly known as “ cospe-fogo ” ( fire spitting ), due to the peculiar characteristic of secreting a caustic liquid (formic acid) from the mandibular glands, thereby giving rise to severe burns in both animals and humans, while leaving permanent spots on the skin. Besides being highly aggressive, they are also cleptobiotic, as colony robbers of other meliponine species ( Roubik et al , 1987 ; Roubik, 1992 ; Souza et al , 2007 ).…”