Floral resources collected by four native bees species in southern Mexico

Melissopalynological analysis of 14 honey samples of Tetragonisca angustula (two), Scaptotrigona mexicana (six), Melipona beecheii (three) and Melipona solani (three) from Soconusco region in Chiapas, Mexico was performed. A total of 79 taxa were identified, being Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Grana 2021-01, Vol.60 (1), p.57-68
Main Authors: López-Roblero, Estefhanía, Cristina, Espinoza-Toledo, José Alfonso, López-García, Julieta, Grajales-Conesa, David Leonor, Quiroz-García
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asteraceae
Bees
Euphorbia
Euphorbiaceae
Fabaceae
Foraging
Foraging behavior
Honey
Indigenous species
Melipona beecheii
Melipona solani
Miconia
Plant species
Pollen
pollen spectrum
Resource management
Resources
Scaptotrigona mexicana
Species
stingless bees
Taxa
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Summary:Melissopalynological analysis of 14 honey samples of Tetragonisca angustula (two), Scaptotrigona mexicana (six), Melipona beecheii (three) and Melipona solani (three) from Soconusco region in Chiapas, Mexico was performed. A total of 79 taxa were identified, being Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Melostomataceae and Rubiaceae the predominant pollen types. Melissopalynological analysis reported a monofloral composition for Melipona beecheii honeys, where the most predominant pollen type was Fabaceae (54.2%). T. angustula, Scaptotrigona mexicana and Melipona solani honey samples were multifloral and predominant pollen types were Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Melastomataceae and Solanaceae. The most frequent polliniferous pollen type were Asteraceae, Bernardia interrupta, Euphorbia heterophyla and Miconia. Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H′) for Melipona beecheii 2016 (2.21) and Melipona solani 2017 (1.64) were lower meanwhile honeys of Melipona beecheii 2017, S. mexicana 2017, Melipona solani 2016 and T. angustula 2017 were considered as fairly diverse, because they visited a wider range of plant species, by preferring shrub and wild strata such as: Asteraceae, Euphorbia, Euphorbiaceae, Miconia and Mimosa. Our results showed that the foraging behaviour of these bee species is polylectic, as no taxa was found to be more than 70% of the counted grains. Since the study of the collection of meliponine flower resources in the southern region of Mexico have not been studied yet, it is not possible to analyse the foraging behaviour, the use of resources and the management of these species in this region.
ISSN:0017-3134
1651-2049
DOI:10.1080/00173134.2020.1767195