Report on the stingless bees of Bhutan (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

Tshering Nidup

doi:10.11609/jott.4504.13.5.18344-18348

Abstract

Two species of stingless bees, Tetragonula gressitti (Sakagami) and Lepidotrigona arcifera (Cockerell), are reported from Bhutan for the first time. The nest description and meliponiculture are described. This is the gross underestimation of Meliponini diversity in Bhutan and summons more study on the diversity, biology, and meliponiculture.

Highlights

Stingless bee keeping is known as meliponiculture (Cortopassi-Laurino et al 2006) and is a rare activity in Bhutan, where it is considered a sin to taste even a tiny drop of honey, from a Buddhist perspective
A huge opportunity for meliponiculture exists in Bhutan, with 72% of the country under forest cover with rich and diverse flora, and chemical use in agriculture almost nonexistent, making the country attractive for largescale organic meliponiculture (Gupta et al 2014)
The surveys were conducted by the experts from Sherubtse College and College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environmental Research (UWICER), National Plant Protection Centre (NPPC) and Naturalis Biodiversity Center, The Netherlands

Summary

Introduction

Stingless bee keeping is known as meliponiculture (Cortopassi-Laurino et al 2006) and is a rare activity in Bhutan, where it is considered a sin to taste even a tiny drop of honey, from a Buddhist perspective. Two local types (white and black) of stingless bees were collected from different localities of Bhutan. It is said that the honey of the black species has a higher medicinal value than the white Author would like to thank Deo Kumar Rai and Bishal Rai for contributing of the specimen and the photographs.

Results

Conclusion