Abstract
This study aimed to characterize species of Myrtaceae belonging to genera already identified in the pollen spectrum of beehive products of social bees, describing pollen grains morphology and correlating with taxonomic differences the species reported in the literature. For each plant species, measurements were made with 25 pollen grains in equatorial view and the polar diameter (PD) and equatorial diameter (ED) were measured. The exine thickness was obtained by measuring 10 pollen grains in polar view at the medium height of mesocolpium. The description of pollen morphology showed that pollen grains of the species are triangular amb, 3-colporates, psilate surface, small to medium size and oblate shape with the P/E ratio ranging from 0.52 to 0.72 µm. The morphological description of Myrtaceae species showed similarity between several characteristics common to pollen grains of this species. The description also allowed separation of nine species studied by size and specific morphological characters with the identification key, which can also be used to study the pollen spectrum of hive products.
Highlights
The study of bee flora indicates food sources that bees use to collect nectar and pollen, allowing to maximize the use of natural resources, both in the establishment and upkeep of local apicultural flora, in areas of natural or cultivated vegetation [1,2]
Myrtaceae is considered of great ecological relevance, since this family presents characteristics of apicultural plants, besides producing edible fruits, highly appreciated by wild fauna and humans [6,7]
The species were selected based on studies that report the importance of Myrtaceae species as a trophic resource used by social bees (Table 1)
Summary
The study of bee flora indicates food sources that bees use to collect nectar and pollen, allowing to maximize the use of natural resources, both in the establishment and upkeep of local apicultural flora, in areas of natural or cultivated vegetation [1,2]. Several botanical families stand out as nectar and pollen sources for bees and different studies [3,4,5] have reported Myrtaceae as one of the most important. Studies on palynotaxonomy of apicultural plants are scarce and our study is the first to correlate pollen morphology of Myrtaceae to bee flora. Myrtaceae is considered of great ecological relevance, since this family presents characteristics of apicultural plants (pollen and nectar production), besides producing edible fruits, highly appreciated by wild fauna and humans [6,7]. With roughly 140 genera and more than 3000 species, the Myrtaceae family has its two main dispersion centers in the Americas and Australia. The genera of Myrtaceae belonging to the Horizon e-Publishing Group
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