The Pollen Load on Stingless Bees (Apidae: Meliponinae) Foraged in Urban Area

Abstract

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponinae) are eusocial insects that distributed in the tropics and subtropics. Stingless bees are pollinators for various plant species. Foraging activities of worker stingless bees collect pollens, nectar, resin or water as nutrients for individuals and colony needed. This study aimed to measures pollen load and pollen composition carried by four species of stingless bees, i.e., Tetragonula laeviceps, Lepidotrigona terminata, Heterotrigona itama, and Geniotrigona thoracica in urban area at Bogor, Indonesia. Acetolysis method was used for pollens preparation and pollens were counted by using hemacytometer under light microscope embedded with camera. The study showed that the highest pollen load occurred in H. itama (59181 pollen grains), followed by L. terminata (27806 pollen grains), T. laeviceps (20816 pollen grains), and G. thoracica (11775 pollen grains). The number of pollens collected by T. laeviceps, L. terminata, and H. itama positively correlated with body size. Thirteen types of pollen were identified on the body of stingless bees. Pollen composition collected by T. laeviceps were dominated by Chlorantaceae (50%) and Polygonaceae (20%), L. terminata and H. itama were dominated by Asteraceae (70.19% and 62.76%) and Arecaceae (22.87% and 29.65%), while in G. thoracica was dominated by Apocynaceae (53.53%) and Acanthaceae (34.32%). Lepidotrigona terminata and H. itama carried of small pollen-size and G. thoracica carried moderate pollen-size.