Orchid Bees (Apidae: Euglossini) in a Forest Fragment in the Ecotone Cerrado-Amazonian Forest, Brazil

Abstract

<p>This paper presents information about the species richness and abundance of orchid bees in the transitional area between the Cerrado and the Amazon Forest in the Xingu river basin. The males were collected in a forest fragment in the municipality of Ribeirão Cascalheira, northeast Mato Grosso state, Brazil, between 1 and 5 November 2011. Benzyl benzoate, 1.8 cineole, eugenol and vanillin were used as baits, to attract the bees using insect nets and methyl salicylate was used only in the bottle traps. A total of 168 males belonged to four<em> </em>of five Euglossini genera distributed among 16 species were recorded. The greatest species richness was registered in the genus <em>Euglossa</em>, however <em>Eulaema nigrita</em>,<em> </em>was<em> </em>the most abundant Euglossine species in the community. The species richness varied between the edge and the first point within the fragment. The males were more active between 10:00 and 11:00 h, and the 1.8 cineole was the most attractive substance. The fragment studied contained representative species richness of orchid bees in a region of widespread environmental heterogeneity, which is still largely unknown as regards its pollinators and deserves attention for the compilation of new inventories.</p><p><strong>Abejas de orquídeas (Apidae: Euglossini) en un fragmento de bosque en el ecotono Cerrado-Selva Amazónica, Brasil</strong></p><p>En este trabajo se presenta información sobre la riqueza de especies y abundancia de Euglossini en la zona de transición entre el Cerrado y la selva amazónica, en la cuenca del río Xingu. Las muestras se recogieron en un fragmento de bosque en el municipio de Ribeirão Cascalheira, nordeste de Mato Grosso, Brasil, entre el 1 y 5 de noviembre de 2011. Las sustancias puras de benzoato de bencilo, 1,8 cineol, eugenol y la vainillina fueron utilizadas como cebos para atraer los machos usando red de insectos aunque el salicilato de metilo se utilizó en trampas pasivas. Un total de 168 machos pertenecientes a cuatro géneros fueron registrados, distribuidos en 16 especies. La mayor riqueza de especies se registró en el género <em>Euglossa</em>, aunque <em>Eulaema nigrita </em>fue<em> </em>la especie más abundante en la comunidad. La riqueza de especies varió entre el borde y el primer punto dentro del fragmento. Los machos de abejas de orquídeas<em> </em>eran más activos entre 10:00-11:00 h, y el 1.8 cineol fue la sustancia pura más atractiva. El fragmento estudiado contenía un alto grado de riqueza de especies de abejas de orquídeas en una región de heterogeneidad ambiental extensa, que sigue siendo en gran parte desconocido con relación a su fauna de insectos polinizadores y merece la atención para la elaboración de nuevos inventarios.</p>

Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in an Ecotonal Cerrado-Amazon Region in Brazil

“…The number of Euglossini species we found (14 species) is similar to the number sampled by Oliveira-Junior et al (2015) in a transitional forest at Ribeirão Cascalheira, in northeastern Mato Grosso state (16 species). Five of the species we sampled were also sampled in the study by Oliveira-Junior et al (2015): El. nigrita, El.…”

“…Tetragona beebei (Schwarz, 1938) All orchid bee species sampled here, in addition to those listed by Oliveira-Junior et al, (2015), were recorded for Brazilian Amazon. Among the 23 species (Euglossa gr.…”

“…Bees from this region, which comprise the most important pollinator group (Klein et al, 2007;Ollerton et al, 2011), are poorly known in this transitional area. Previous to the present study, this group has been studied in only two localities, the Bico-do-Papagaio region, at the northern portion of the state of Tocantins (Santos et al, 2004), and the municipality of Ribeirão Cascalheira, in the northeastern of the state of Mato Grosso (Oliveira-Junior et al, 2015). In the first region, the sampling consisted of monthly, systematic sampling of flower visitors during the course of one year.…”

New and old records of Euglossa imperialis Cockerell, 1922 (Apidae, Apinae, Euglossini) for the Amazon rainforest, Cerrado, and Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…Euglossa imperialis presents a large range of geographic distribution and has been reported from southern México (Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Veracruz) to Honduras (McCravy et al 2016), Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (Janzen et al 1982;Ackerman 1983;Zimmerman and Madriñan 1988;Roubik 1993;Eltz et al 1999;Otero and Sandino 2003;Roubik 2004;Roubik and Hanson 2004;Moure et al 2012;Hinojosa-Díaz and Engel 2012b;Padrón et al 2018). It has also been catalogued from Brazil (Moure 1989;Becker et al 1991;Rebêlo and Garófalo 1991;Rebêlo 1993;Rebêlo and Moure 1995;Rebêlo and Silva 1999;Nemésio and Faria Junior 2004;Darrault et al 2005;Anjos-Silva 2006a, 2006b, 2011Faria Junior and Melo 2007;Oliveira et al 2010;Schorn de Souza 2014;Figueiredo et al 2015;Mateus et al 2015;Oliveira-Junior et al 2015;Antonini et al 2017;Tosta et al 2017;Cândido et al 2018;Henrique et al 2018;Coswosk et al 2018;Machado et al 2018).…”

“…In Brazil, this species has been catalogued from the Amazon rainforest (Moure 1989;Becker et al 1991;Rebêlo and Silva 1999;Anjos-Silva 2011;Antonini et al 2017;Cândido et al 2018), the Cerrado (Rebêlo andGarófalo 1991, 1997;Rebêlo 1993;Rebêlo and Moure 1995;Nemésio and Faria Junior 2004;Anjos-Silva 2006a, 2006b, 2011Oliveira et al 2010;Schorn de Souza 2014;Figueiredo et al 2015;Oliveira-Junior et al 2015;Tosta et al 2017;Henrique et al 2018), besides the marine alluvial fan in Maranhão , the Pernambuco center of endemism (Darrault et al 2005) and the Atlantic forest (Faria Junior and Melo 2007;Mateus et al 2015;Coswosk et al 2018;Machado et al 2018).…”