Looking beyond the flowers: associations of stingless bees with sap-sucking insects

Abstract

The main sources of food for stingless bees are the nectar and pollen harvested from flowers, whereas one important kind of nesting material (i.e. wax) is produced by their own abdominal glands. Stingless bees can, nonetheless, obtain alternative resources of food and wax from exudates released by sap-sucking insects as honeydew and waxy cover, respectively. To date, there are no comprehensive studies investigating how diversified and structured the network interactions between stingless bees and sap-sucking insects are. Here, we conducted a survey of the data on relationship between stingless bees and sap-sucking insects to evaluate: (1) which resources are collected by which stingless bee species; (2) how diverse the interaction network is, using species degree and specialisation index as a proxy; and if (3) there would be any phylogenetic signal in the species degree and specialisation indices. Our findings demonstrate that approximately 21 stingless bee species like Trigona spp. and Oxytrigona spp. have been observed interacting with 11 sap-sucking species, among which Aethalion reticulatum is the main partner. From ca. 50 records, Brazil is the country with most observations (n = 38) of this type of ecological interaction. We found also that stingless bees harvest fivefold more honeydew than waxy covers on sap-sucking insects. However, we did not find any phylogenetic signal for the occurrence of this interaction, considering species degree and specialisation indices, suggesting that both traits apparently evolved independently among stingless bee species. We suggest that specific ecological demands may drive this opportunistic behaviour exhibited by stingless bees, because major sources of food are obtained from flowers and these bees produce their own wax.

Insects and spiders on Acacia mangium (Fabaceae) saplings as bioindicators for the recovery of tropical degraded areas

“…The greater abundance of chewing insects and Bemisia sp., in the first, and tending ants and T. spinipes, in the second year, after planting the A. mangium saplings and the reduction in the number of these sap-sucking and pollinating insects by the larger numbers of chewing insects and ants, confirm the fifth hypothesis that competition between insects can occur in those environments (Leite et al, 2017). The direct correlation between T. spinipes and A. reticulatum is similar to that of Trigona hyalinata (Lepeletier, 1836) (Santos et al, 2019) on Clitoria fairchildiana (Howard, 1967) (Fabales: Fabaceae) branches (Oda et al, 2009). The possible competition for honeydew produced by this sap-sucking insect between T. spinipes and tending ants (e.g.…”

Forests are critically important to global pollinator diversity and enhance pollination in adjacent crops

“…Indeed, honeydew is so important to honey production in some regions that beekeepers intentionally move their hives to take advantage of this resource, and forest managers may even consider honeydew when planning timber harvest schedules (de‐Miguel, Pukkala & Yeşil, 2014). Honeydew collection is also known from other social bees including bumble bees [Cameron, Corbet & Whitfield (2019) and references therein], stingless bees (dos Santos et al ., 2019; Koch, Corcoran & Jonker, 2011), and a wide variety of solitary bee species and other insects (Konrad et al ., 2009; Meiners et al ., 2017; Gardner‐Gee & Beggs, 2013). Indeed, spraying diluted honey onto foliage to simulate natural honeydew has been shown to be an effective method for sampling bees in tropical forests (Salmah, Inoue & Sakagami, 1990; Liow, Sodhi & Elmqvist, 2001).…”

Mite diversity is determined by the stingless bee host species

“…However, bees can establish relationships with many other organisms inside and outside their nests. Outside their hives, bees can associate with sap-sucking insects as observed with honey bees (Apini), bumble bees (Bombini), orchid bees (Euglossini) and stingless bees (Meliponini) (Bishop 1994;Dimou and Thrasyvoulou 2007;Santos et al 2019). Inside their hives, bees' relationships are less known, although more is known about their relationships with fungi and mites (Eickwort 1990;Menezes et al 2009;Menezes et al 2015;Paludo et al 2018).…”