Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) seek sodium at carrion baits in Costa Rica

Abstract

1. Many terrestrial herbivores supplement their diets with minerals. Neotropical stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) supplement their floral diets by visiting diverse non‐floral resources such as rotting fruit and muddy water.2. Some stingless bees also visit carrion; however, it is unknown whether bees visit carrion for minerals or for another resource. Here, we investigated the mineral preferences of stingless bees visiting carrion.3. We deployed raw chicken baits at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica consisting of six treatments: baits soaked in sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, or deionised water, and unsoaked baits. We identified and counted bee and non‐bee visitors to baits over three days.4. We observed five species from three genera of stingless bee on the baits. Sodium baits and unsoaked baits were visited more often than other baits. Our findings demonstrate that stingless bees do forage for minerals on carrion, but that preferences are mineral‐specific.5. In addition, three species packed carrion into their corbiculae. We hypothesise that facultatively necrophagous stingless bees may be using carrion as an alternative source of protein or nest‐building materials.