Foraging behavior of Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) cearensis Ducke, 1910 (Apidae) in Waltheria cinerascens A.St.Hil. (Sterculiaceae) at coastal dunes (APA of Abaeté, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Authors

  • Cristiana B. N. Costa Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Departamento de Botânica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica. Km 03 - BR 116, Campus. 44031-460, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil.
  • Jorge A. S. Costa Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Departamento de Botânica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica. Km 03 - BR 116, Campus. 44031-460, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil.
  • Ana Tereza A. Rodarte Universidade Federal da Bahia, Departamento de Botânica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Biomonitoramento. Rua Barão de Geremoabo, s/n, Ondina, Campus. 40170-290, Salvador, Bahia, Brasil.
  • Claudia M. Jacobi Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, ICB. Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Cx. P. 486. 30161-970. Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13102/scb8231

Abstract

The foraging behavior of Xylocopa cearensis Ducke, 1910 (Apidae) in plants of Waltheria cinerascens A.St.Hil. (Sterculiaceae) was studied for the first time in the sandbank ecosystem in coastal dunes in the Environmental Protected Area of Abaeté (12o56’S, 38o21’W), town of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, from Mar 23 to May 05 2001. Thirteen interplant bee foraging flights were followed, varying from four to twenty steps (mean length of thirteen steps). The angles and the distances between each plant visited were measured, as well as the number of flowers offered and visited. The observed routes suggest a global directionality, with tendency to lateral movements. The bees visit about 31% of the flowers offered, with a visitation peak close to the period of stigmatic receptivity. Nectar is the main resource taken, and pollen is deposited in the mandible or the front part of the head in longistilic and brevistilic flowers, respectively. This behavior allows intermorph pollination in W. cinerascens. The distribution of the plants was analyzed through the method of continuous squares. Waltheria cinerascens shows a clustered distribution in the study area and the largest displacement presented by Xylocopa cearensis includes an area of 600 m2.

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Published

2002-06-30

How to Cite

Costa, C. B. N., Costa, J. A. S., Rodarte, A. T. A., & Jacobi, C. M. (2002). Foraging behavior of Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) cearensis Ducke, 1910 (Apidae) in Waltheria cinerascens A.St.Hil. (Sterculiaceae) at coastal dunes (APA of Abaeté, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. SITIENTIBUS série Ciências Biológicas, 2(1/2), 23–28. https://doi.org/10.13102/scb8231

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1/2 (2002)

Section

Artigos

License

Sitientibus série Ciências Biológicas (SCB) is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.