Abstract
The bee species Melipona scutellaris (L.) is native to Brazil, stingless and belongs to the Apidae family. In Brazil, stingless bees are responsible for 40 % to 90% of tree species pollination, depending on the considered ecosystem. However, their survival has been threatened since the country has been standing out as the biggest pesticides consumer in the world. Many of the pesticides used are considered toxic to bees, including imidacloprid (all existing studies were conducted with the Apis mellifera (L.) species). Although the bees are not the target of these substances, they are highly vulnerable to contamination. Thereby, the objective of this study was to establish the mean lethal dose (LD 50 ) and the mean lethal concentration (LC 50 ) of imidacloprid in the M. scutellaris fodder. In order to carry out this experiment, bees were collected and the test was performed according to OECD's protocol (1998a, 1998b), developed for A. mellifera . For the determination of LD 50 and LC 50 , data was analyzed through the Probit method, using the BioStat software. The topical LD 50 established in this study was 2.41 ng/bee for 24 hours and 1.29 ng/bee for 48 hours. The oral LC 50 was 2.01 ng i.a./μL for 24 hours and 0.81 ng i.a./μL for 48 hours. This data showed that native bees of M. scutellaris species are more sensitive to this pesticide than A. mellifera. Thus, it is important to establish management methods which take this higher susceptibility into account to protect native species.
Highlights
Bees belong to the class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, as well as wasps and ants
The stingless and eusocial bee, Melipona scutellaris Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera: Apidae), commonly known as “uruçu” or “uruçu do nordeste”, stands out (Nogueira-Neto, 1997; Kerr et al, 2001; Imperatriz-Fonseca & Santos, 2014). This species is endemic among Brazilian Northeastern region, inhabiting hot and humid forest regions of the Bahia Coast and Chapada Diamantina, and it is adapted to the ecological and climatic conditions of the state of São Paulo (Nogueira-Neto, 1997)
The procedures for the determination of the oral LC50 were based on the OECD (1998b) developed for A. mellifera
Summary
Bees belong to the class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, as well as wasps and ants These insects are the most important ones for biodiversity conservation since they have the biggest number of pollinators which use pollen and nectar as food and energy sources (Nogueira-Neto, 1997). Among representatives of this family we find bees from the Melipona Illiger, 1806 genus (which belongs to the Meliponini tribe), with more than 50 species In this genus, the stingless and eusocial bee, Melipona scutellaris Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera: Apidae), commonly known as “uruçu” or “uruçu do nordeste”, stands out (Nogueira-Neto, 1997; Kerr et al, 2001; Imperatriz-Fonseca & Santos, 2014). In the Atlantic Rainforest this bee is found only in places which present a low level of disturbance, fact that can be considered as an indication of environmental quality (Ramalho & Batista, 2005)
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