Apis florea, A Dwarf Honey Bee [Insecta, Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Apidae] as major forager in the North Eastern region of Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Bees are the important fauna of ecosystem which provide pollination service to the sexually reproducing plants. Amongst the all pollinators of the world, Honey bees are precious which provide not only pollination service but also economically important products like wax and honey. Apis florea is commonly called as dwarf honey bee which forages on variety of plant species. Abundance of this bee was estimated as the number of bees /m2/ 5 minutes. Highest abundance of dwarf honey bee was estimated on Tagetes erecta and lowest abundance was estimated on Pisum sativum because Tagetes erecta is a large sized flower plant while Pisum sativum is a cleistogamous flower which need not cross pollination. Foraging activity of this bee has been estimated in the different time of the day and found that foraging activity was highest estimated in the noon as compared to morning and noon when temperature was high and low relative humidity of environment. Temperature showed positive correlation with foraging activity while relative humidity showed negative correlation.