Congregation Sites and Sleeping Roost of Male Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

Authors

  • Charles Fernando dos Santos Laboratório de Abelhas, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo
  • Cristiano Menezes Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária Amazônia Oriental. Belém, PA.
  • Ayrton Vollet-Neto Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, USP. Ribeirão Preto, SP.
  • Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca Laboratório de abelhas, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. São Paulo, SP. Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido. Mossoró, RN.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v61i1.115-118

Keywords:

males, mating swarm, social bees, reproductive strategies, roosting sites

Abstract

Very little is known about stingless bee reproductive biology or male behaviour. In this note we provide the first observations on the male aggregations (congregation sites and roosting sites) of some stingless bee species. Our observations show that males of two stingless bee species can congregate on the same site. We also report for the first time the substrates used by stingless bee males for resting at night, that at least one species forms large sleeping roosts composed of hundreds of individuals, and that sleeping roost locations are not reused on subsequent nights.

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References

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Published

2014-05-30

How to Cite

Santos, C. F. dos, Menezes, C., Vollet-Neto, A., & Imperatriz-Fonseca, V. L. (2014). Congregation Sites and Sleeping Roost of Male Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini). Sociobiology, 61(1), 115–118. https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v61i1.115-118

Issue

Vol. 61 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Short Note

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