Pattern of floral resource use by two species of Melipona Illiger, 1806 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in continental sand dunes from medium São Francisco River, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

The populations of Melipona (Eomelipona) asilvai Moure, 1971 and Melipona (Melipona) mandacaia Smith, 1863 resident in continental sand dunes from the medium São Francisco River were studied in order to verify if these bee species show low similarity in floral resource use. The bees were captured on the flowers, using entomological nets, from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in a restricted area (10 ha) covered with “caatinga” vegetation from February to December 2000. The flowering plants were collected and identified, and the number of flowers was estimated. 131 individuals of the species M. asilvai (53.4%) and M. mandacaia (46.6%) were sampled visiting flowers of 14 plant species (7 families). The most visited plant species were Byrsonima gardnerana Adr.Juss. (Malpighiaceae) (45.8%), Copaifera coriacea Mart. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) (12.2%), and Serjania comata Radlk. (Sapindaceae) (11.4%). Melipona bees concentrated their activities on “mass flowering” plant species and were observed foraging mainly from 06:00h to 08:00h a.m. No relation was observed between the number of bees sampled and the total of flowers estimated. This suggests that the quantity of trophic resources was not limiting. The low similarity value in the use of trophic resources between the melipona species suggests that they partition resources in the study area.