Northernmost Distribution Research Articles

Stingless-Bee Keeping in Western Mexico

A MONG the many cultural traits commonly associated with the aboriginal high cultures of the Mesoamerican region, and with other aboriginal cultures in Middle and South America, none is more unusual than the domestication of various species of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponidae). However, exact information on the geographical distribution of the trait, the identification of the cultural groups that have engaged in the practice, and the names of all the bee species employed is far from complete and invites further attention. Some three decades ago a general distributional description of Amerindian beekeeping was published.' The northernmost distribution of the trait was placed at a point on the west coast of Mexico within the present state of Jalisco. Authority for this location is Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, who includes remarks about beekeeping in Jalisco(?) in his important sixteenth-century chronicle of the New World.2 Other recent scholars who have studied the culture history of western Mexico have concluded that Oviedo is actually referring to a location north ofJalisco, a place in southern Sinaloa called Chametla3 (Fig. 1, inset). After careful examination of Oviedo's account I have concluded that the entire matter of aboriginal beekeeping on the west coast of Mexico requires review. The major purposes of this article are to establish the northwestern limits of stingless-bee keeping in Mexico and to make a contribution to the faunal and cultural zoogeography of the Mexican region.

Persistent activity rhythms in the oyster.

Persistent activity rhythms in the oyster.