Abstract
S<span lang="IN">urvey of stingless bee diversity, nesting preferences, and </span>forage<span lang="IN"> plants </span>was conducted in <span lang="IN">West Halmahera across 134 collection sites. </span>This research was<span lang="IN"> aimed to </span>determine species diversity, nesting preference and habitat, and domin<span lang="IN">a</span>nt for<span lang="IN">a</span>ge pl<span lang="IN">a</span>nts. There were three species found, <span lang="IN">the most common species being </span><span lang="IN">Tetragonula clypearis (Friese), followed by T. sapiens (Cockerell), and last T. biroi (Friese).</span> Based on the morphology characters of each species, the key identification was provided. The most colonies were found in public houses <span lang="IN">(80.39%)</span>, <span lang="IN">followed by plantations (13.73%), and the community forest (5.88%), respectively.</span><span lang="IN">Most colonies nested in stone cavities, parts of the ho</span>us<span lang="IN">es, wooden materials, tree trunks, logs, tree roots, bamboo, and sometimes iron cavities.</span> The forage plants consist of forage plantation, crops, fruits, vegetables, ornamental flowers, wild plants and shrubs. The three species found were new record in West Halmahera. Bees lived in various hollow places that were safe for their colony. Bees made use of a variety of flowering plants and secrete resins around the nest site.
Highlights
Stingless bees (Meliponini) are social bees living naturally in tropical and sub-tropical (Michener 2007; Engel & Rasmussen 2021)
Most colonies nested in stone cavities, parts of the houses, wooden materials, tree trunks, logs, tree roots, bamboo, and sometimes iron cavities
Tetragonula is the genus of stingless bees with the widest range across the Indo-Pacific, and includes species of a small size, typically with five hamuli on the hind wing, with forewing vein M straight and ending bluntly, and with the mesoscutellum projecting posteriorly (Rasmussen et al 2017; Engel et al 2018)
Summary
Stingless bees (Meliponini) are social bees living naturally in tropical and sub-tropical (Michener 2007; Engel & Rasmussen 2021). Like honey bees (Apis L.), stingless bees produce honey and produce propolis (Halcroft et al 2013). Owing to their smaller body sizes and often smaller colony sizes, the volume of honey produced is of a lesser volume than that of Apis, stingless bee honey is of considerable benefit for human health and is often of higher monetary value (Kumar et al 2012; Chuttong et al 2015). There is, a considerable geographic bias in our understanding of stingless bee diversity, nesting biology, floral associations, and management practices, with most information deriving from a subset of species from the western islands (Engel et al 2018). The distribution and biology of species across the eastern islands, those of the Moluccas, eastern Lesser Sunda islands, West Papua, and Papua, remain poorly documented (Engel 2019)
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