Nest Architecture of Tetragona clavipes (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v63i2.1019Keywords:
Beehives, native bees, nesting behavior, storage pots.Abstract
The aim of this study was to describe the nest architecture of Tetragona clavipes colonies, and to compare its features with other stingless bee species. The measurements were made on 10 colonies in terms of brood chamber, brood cells, royal cells, food pots, pillars between combs, and population. Brood chamber (= 3117.9 ± 1230.6 cm3) of spiral-shaped combs were all in the center of the nest. The values of equatorial diameter of brood chambers (= 14.33 ± 3.03 cm) can be useful to scale bee boxes. The height and width of food pots (= 3.42 ± 0.39 cm; = 2.21 ± 0.23 cm), and brood cells (= 6.37 ± 0.32 mm; = 3.73 ± 0.35 mm) were statistically different among colonies. The measurements of the internal nest structures of T. clavipes were similar to the few other reported studies of this species. T. clavipes nests presented only few differences from other stingless bee species. This species has large potential for honey production, which has not yet been explored and deserves attention in future studies.Downloads
References
Dr. Giorgio Cristino Venturieri
Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, Belém, Pará, Brasil.
giorgio@cpatu.embrapa.br
Amazon stingless bees, bee pollination, pot-honey of stingless bees
Dr. Denise de Araujo Alves
Universidade de São Paulo, Campus Luiz de Queiroz, Departamento de Entomologia e Acarologia, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brasil.
daalves@ib.usp.br
Brazilian stingless bees, social behavior in bees, pollinators’ reproductive strategies.
Dr. Megan Halcroft
School for Health and Science, Hawkesbury Campus, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
megan@beesbusiness.com.au
Australian stingless bees, honey, pollination ecology
Dr. Tim A. Heard
CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, EcoSciences Precinct, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
tim.heard@csiro.au
Australian stingless bees, bee husbandry, crop pollination
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Sociobiology is a diamond 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.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
eISSN 2447-8067
