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Abstract
Ecuadorian stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini) have ethnomedicinal interest because their products are used in healing. Diverse remedies consist on pot-honey alone or mixed with infusions. This set of medicinal uses were informed in El Oro province by Ecuadorian stingless bee keepers –known as meliponicultors− in Latin America: bruises, tumors, ocular cataracts, pterygium, inflammation, infections, varicose veins, cleaning blood after childbirth, kidney diseases, tumor, wound healing, and soothing balm before sleeping. Scaptotrigona ederi named “catiana” or “catana” is the most frequent bee in the visited cantons Las Lajas, Balsas, Pinas, and Zaruma. Other important stingless bees are Melipona indecisa “cananambo”, Melipona mimetica “bermejo”, Nannotrigona cf. perilampoides “piton”, and Paratrigona aff. eutaeniata “pirunga”. A bioprospective research will follow to value this ancient tradition and the honey processed in cerumen pots, with sound inclusion in the Ecuadorian honey regulation NTE INEN 1572, currently under revision.
Highlights
Ecuador has a surface of almost 300,000 km2 divided into 24 provinces with the highest biodiversity in the planet
In this work we studied Ecuadorian meliponines from Las Lajas, Balsas, Piñas, and Zaruma cantons from El Oro province and the different medicinal uses of their honey produced in cerumen pots, to retrieve the relation manbee-environment-health
Stingless bees kept by seventeen visited Ecuadorian meliponicultors, aged 12 to 76-y-o in El Oro province are “bermeja” Melipona mimetica Cockerell, 1914; “cananambo” Melipona indecisa, Cockerel, 1919; “catiana” or “catana” Scaptotrigona ederi Schwarz, unpublished; “pirunga” Paratrigona aff. eutaeniata Camargo & Moure, 1994, “piton” Nannotrigona cf. perilampoides (Cresson, 1878)
Summary
Ecuador has a surface of almost 300,000 km divided into 24 provinces with the highest biodiversity in the planet. Besides the ecologically controversial exploitation of shrimp farming and intensive banana plantations, El Oro province has protected areas: Arenillas Ecological Reserve, Buenaventura National Park and Isla Santa Clara Wildlife Sanctuary. This coastal province is home to the Mullopungo, Chilla and Tioloma foothills, Hummingbird Sanctuary, and stingless bees. Stingless bees (Hymenoptera; Apidae; Meliponini) are a tropical group with more than 500 known species, and perhaps 100 more to be named (Michener, 2013). This great biodiversity is mostly represented by Neotropical Meliponini with almost 400 species group (Camargo and Pedro, 2007; Camargo, 2013). The following species of stingless bees were previously reported in this province (Ramírez et al, 2012): Cephalotrigina capitata Smith,1854; Geotrigona fumipennis, Camargo & Moure, 2066; Oxytrigona mellicolor, Packard, 1869; Scaptotrigona sp. cf. postica, Scaptotrigona sp., Trigona fulviventris, Trigona matera, Trigonisca sp. 1 and sp. 2
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