Foraging ofScaptotrigonaaff.depilis(Hymenoptera, Apidae) in an Urbanized Area: Seasonality in Resource Availability and Visited Plants

Abstract

The floral sources used by bees can be identified by analyzing pollen grains obtained from their bodies, feces, brood cells, or storage pots in the nests. In addition to data on resource availability, this information enables the investigation on the selection of food resource by bees. We assessed the foraging patterns of Scaptotrigona aff. depilis in an urbanized area with seasonal availability of food resources. The species visited a percentage of 36.60% of the available flora, suggesting that these bees are selective at spatiotemporal scale. When many types of resources were available, the workers concentrated their collection activities on a limited group of sources. In contrast, more plant species were exploited during periods of lower number of flowering plants. A monthly analysis of the foraging patterns of the studied colonies revealed that Syzygium cumini (88.86%), Mimosa sp.1 (80.23%), Schinus terebinthifolius (63.36%), and Eucalyptus citriodora (61.75%) were the most frequently used species and are therefore important for maintaining S. aff. depilis at the study area. These plants are close to the colonies and exhibit mass flowering. This study is one of few works to quantify natural resource availability and to analyze the effects of flowering seasonality on the selection of food sources by bees.

Consumption of the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam during the larval stage affects the survival and development of the stingless bee, Scaptotrigona aff. depilis

“…Thiamethoxam is frequently applied on these crops, whose flowers are commonly visited by stingless bee S. aff. depilis (Faria et al 2012). …”

“…depilis Moure, 1942 visits a wide range of floral resources, such as citrus, eucalyptus (Faria et al 2012) and cotton flowers (Pires et al 2014), crops on which the use of neonicotinoids is common (Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento 2015). In addition, the wide distribution of this native stingless bee species in the Neotropical region (Moure et al 2013) makes it an important species for research.…”

Natural history and biogeography of Partamona rustica, an endemic bee in dry forests of Brazil

“…The sites are described in Table 1 Localities Natural history and biogeography of Partamona rustica, an endemic bee in dry forests of Brazil and S. aff. depilis (Ferreira et al 2010;Faria et al 2012 Table 2). These findings may be explained by the fact that surveying in CMA, TNO, and RBA was conducted in the rainy season and these regions are composed of different ecotones, such as transitional areas of the caatinga, cerrado, and seasonal semi-deciduous forests.…”

Environmental windows for foraging activity in stingless bees, Melipona subnitida Ducke and Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

“…The vegetation of the university campus is composed of both native species of seasonal semi-deciduous forest and exotic plants (vegetation cover of the campus: ~ 75 ha; Pais & Varanda, 2010). The area directly surrounding the meliponary presents a high diversity of potential food sources for bees (Faria et al, 2012;Aleixo et al, 2013). The local climate is characterized through two welldefined seasons, a hot-rainy season from September/October to April, and a cold-dry season from May to August/September.…”