Studies on characters for identification of Apis and non Apis bees on coriander

Abstract

Coriander is used as a strip crop to attract pollinators in order to facilitate pollination of major crops. This strip crop planting is important in determining the occurrence and abundance of pollinators in a locality. Amongst various insect pollinators, bees accomplish more than 80% of insect pollination. The wild bees including bumble bees, leaf cutting bees, alkali bees and carpenter bees are especially adapted for gathering pollen and nectar from flowers. In the present study insect pollinators were collected by fluorescent pan traps, scan sampling and sweep net during March, 2013–2014. An effort was made to study and develop keys for identification of Apis and non Apis bees. All the samples were identified on the basis of tongue length as long tongue and short tongue bees. The bees collected on coriander bloom represent the family Megachilidae, Halictidae and Apidae were found on coriander bloom. Most of the bees belong to genus Halictus having 3 different species (Family Halictidae), one species of family Megachilidae and two species of family Apidae.