Pollen analysis of the post-emergence residue of Melipona (Melikerria) interrupta Latreille (Hymenoptera: Apidae) bred in the central Amazon region

Abstract

We applied an "adapted" protocol for collecting and processing pollen grains in the pollen analysis of the post-emergence residue of Melipona (Melikerria) interrupta Latreille. The study was conducted at the Sant' Ana honey farm, located on the banks of the Solimões River, in the municipality of Manacapuru, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, where a colony was monitored in October and November 2010. From that colony, 10 samples of post-emergence residue were collected. Unlike in the acetolysis method, there was no need to expose pollen grains to an acidic medium, because pollen loses its content during the larval digestive process. We identified 32 pollen types, from 19 botanical families, plus three undetermined pollen types. The most representative family was Fabaceae (Mimosoideae), with eight pollen types, Mimosa guilandinae being the most common species. Only the pollen of Miconia (Melastomataceae), with 74.10%, was classified as a common pollen. We also found that the pollen of Mimosa pudica (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) retained its content, indicating that not all resources furnished by workers are utilized by the larvae. The protocol applied here, despite omitting the acetolysis process, was efficient, providing full details of pollen contained in post-emergence residue.

Cuban stingless bee livestock exhibit specialized floral resource use: a palynological study on honey samples from Matanzas and Mayabeque provinces

“…The most represented family in Matanzas and Maybeque (Figure 4) was Fabaceae. Similar results were obtained by Ferreira and Absy (2013) and Barquero-Elizondo et al (2019) in stingless bee species. They ascribe this fact to the relevance of this family within the ecosystem for its diversity (small-size plants, lianas, shrubs, and trees) and abundant flowerings throughout the year.…”

A review of pollen types foraged by Melipona in the Brazilian Amazon

“…From 1995 onwards, some statistics began to be included in the studies, such as histograms and relative frequency (Marques- Souza et al 1995, Oliveira et al (2009 introduced multivariate analyses based on the monthly pollen frequency. Afterwards, an interaction network analysis was used by Ferreira and Absy (2013); these analyses also gave rise to international publications, such as the study by Ferreira and Absy (2015) published 38 years after the first study. Since then, most studies have been published in international journals.…”

Botanical origin and seasonal variation in pollen collected by Tetragonisca weyrauchi (Apidae: Meliponini) in an urban area of Rio Branco, State of Acre, Brazil

“…Food sources of social bees can be investigated by direct observation of the worker bees on flowers, or by analyses of the food transported by the bees, either by using samples of honey and pollen directly extracted from pots in their hives (Kerr et al 1986; Barth 1989, 2004, 2013; Luz et al 2007; Rech and Absy 2011a, 2011b; Ferreira and Absy 2017a, 2017b; Rezende et al 2019), by obtaining corbicular pollen from worker bees (Ferreira and Absy 2015, 2017b), by extracting regurgitated nectar from bees returning to the hive (Absy et al 1980), or even by post-emergence residues (Ferreira and Absy 2013; Ferreira et al 2019). Hence, reconnaissance of plant species used for pollen and nectar by bees helps the characterization of food resources (Carvalho et al 2001; Luz et al 2010).…”