Pollen Load and Flower Constancy of Stingless Bees Tetragonula laeviceps (Smith) and Heterotrigona itama (Cockerell) (Apidae: Meliponinae)

Abstract

Stingless bees are pollinating insects that are important for plants and useful for producing honey. The role of stingless bees as pollinators related to the activity of foraging on flowers. The aim of this study was to measure pollen load and flower constancy of two species stingless bees, Tetragonula laeviceps and Heterotrigona itama in the campus area of IPB University, Bogor. As many as 30 individuals of T. laeviceps and H. itama from different nest colonies were used. Each individual of bee was collected in a 1.5 mL microtube containing 0.5 mL 70% ethanol: glycerol (4: 1). The results showed that the highest pollen load occurred in T. laeviceps (122,594 pollen grains) followed by H. itama (56,575 pollen grains). Tetragonula laeviceps showed 78.32% flower constancy in Polygonaceae, 74.05% in Amaranthaceae, and 70.76% in Solanaceae plants. Meanwhile, Heterotrigona itama showed 73.16% flower constancy in Polygonaceae. The pollen load and flower constancy of T. laeviceps and H. itama varied according to the location of the nest.

Melissopalynological analysis of honey produced by two species of stingless bees in Lombok Island, Indonesia

“…Even though there was high diversity of plants grow near the hives, the dominant occurrence of S. lycopersicum pollen indicated that this plant the most visited species by bees in searching for food. This result was in line with the study by Cholis et al (2019) which found that T. laeviceps showed consistency in collecting pollen from Solanaceae plants as much as 70.76%. Another pollen type found in considerable percentage was from coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) which grows around the nest.…”

“…Meanwhile, the predominant occurrence of Polygonum sp. pollen in line with the report of Cholis et al (2019) that T. laeviceps showed flower constancy in Polygonaceae as part of its foraging behavior.…”

“…Pollen diversity found in honey samples from Genggelang and Karang Bajo which showed the dominance of Polygonum sp. pollen was in line with the results of research on flower constancy shown by T. laeviceps and H. itama (Cholis et al 2019). Honey from Batu Putih which had the predominant pollen of Solanaceae, honey from Lempenge with predominant pollen from Myrtaceae, and Honey from Sesela with predominant pollen from the Fabaceae family were all monofloral honey, clearly showed a preference for stingless bees towards the three plant families as reported by de Novais et al (2014) that stingless bees collect large amount of Fabaceae and Solanaceae pollen, and those from do Nascimento et al (2015) that Fabaceae and Myrtaceae pollen was found at considerable amount in honey produced by stingless bees.…”

“…A study by Pangestika et al (2017) conducted at Ecology Park of Cibinong, West Java indicated that T. laeviceps showed flower constancy for plants from the Poaceae family, while H. itama showed flower constancy for Solanaceae plants. A similar study by Cholis et al (2019) on flower constancy conducted in Bogor showed that T. laeviceps mainly collected pollen from plants of Polygonaceae, Amaranthaceae, and Solanaceae families, while the pollen collected by H. itama was dominated by plants from Polygonaceae. According to Md Zaki and Abd Razak (2018), on rubber smallholding in Trengganu Malaysia showed that H. itama showed a preference for small flowers with little or no petals such as Ixora coccinea, Caudatus sulphureus, Mimosa pudica, and Pereskia sacharosa.…”

“…Moreover, the flower of B. ceiba is big, cup-shaped, have nectar, with approximately 100 anthers per flower, and the average number of pollen per anther is 88,630 grains (Raut et al 2017). The constancy of T. laeviceps in collecting pollen from Polygonaceae has been pointed out by Cholis et al (2019) who found bee species collected as much as 78.32% Polygonaceae based on the analysis of pollen load. In this village, the beehives were placed in rice fields where some flowering plants were intentionally planted such as Cosmos caudatus, Iris pseudacorus, Euphorbia sp., Artocarpus heterophyllus, C. papaya, M. indica, and C. nucifera.…”