Stingless Bee Colonies Research Articles

Variation in animal architecture: Genes, environment, and culture.

A new study investigates how stingless bee colonies inherit one of two architecturally distinct types of comb and proposes the primary mechanism of inheritance as stigmergy: among-individual coordination in comb building informed by environmental cues (i.e., social artefacts). These findings highlight the importance of social information in creating and maintaining architectural variance among structures.

A focus on the Chinese stingless bee honey (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): Exploring physicochemical parameters for establishing quality standards

Stingless bee honey (SBH) is the most important product from stingless bee colonies with great economic value and health benefits. Nevertheless, there is little information on the physiochemical parameters of Chinese SBH, which also limits its utilization and quality control. In the period 2019–2023, we collected 89 Chinese SBH samples produced by five stingless bee species from four provinces in China. We performed comprehensive assessments of various SBH physicochemical indicators. These parameters include moisture, trehalulose, sucrose, fructose, glucose, total soluble solids, Baumé, ash, pH, electrical conductivity, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, and free acidity. Our data revealed that the physicochemical parameters of Chinese SBH are consistent with earlier reported results from other countries. Notably, the Chinese SBH exhibited a relatively low level of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (0–9.64 mg/kg), sucrose (0–0.43 g/100 g), and no diastase activity was detected. Chinese SBH was rich in trehalulose (4.26–37.65 g/100 g). After comparing these indexes with published data and with Australian/Malaysian samples, we proposed a new food standard for regulations of Chinese SBHs. These findings provide crucial insights into the Chinese SBH and contribute significantly to developing quality control and global standards for SBH.

Foraging Activity and Preference of Pollen Sources by Stingless Bee, Heterotrigona itama in Tropical Lowland Forest of Terengganu

Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) are a highly diversified group of eusocial corbiculate bees distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. However, studies on the relation of stingless bee activeness with environmental parameters and pollen source preference are very limited particularly from the lowland forest of East Coast Peninsular Malaysia. Hence, this study aimed to determine the relationship between stingless bee, Heterotrigona itama foraging activity with environmental factors (temperature, humidity, and light intensity) and preference of floral sources in a meliponiary of Marang, Terengganu. The foraging activities of five healthy colonies of H. itama were observed from 0700 to 1700 hours on hot sunny days for eight months of study period (August 2020 – September 2021). The foraging activity was enumerated using camera recording for 10 minutes at one-hour intervals (0700-1700 hours). In this study, the peak time for H. itama to go forage was observed at 0900 until 1100 hours in the early morning and declined rapidly from 1100 until 1700 hours. October 2020 recorded the highest activeness of stingless bees, followed by August 2021 and September 2021. There was a significant difference in the interaction of stingless bee activeness between time and months [F67,424 = 3.498, p<0.05]. However, temperature, humidity and light intensity did not significantly influence the activeness of stingless bees. Acacia mangium was the most frequent pollen grain collected by H. itama, followed by Melastoma malabathricum and other pollen types were considered minor pollen types (<15%). Findings from this study can help beekeepers to understand the foraging behaviour of stingless bee colonies and the preference of the available pollen resources for sustainable meliponiculture management practice.

Flight activity behavior of stingless bee (Apidae: Meliponini) in an urban park outside their natural range: the influence of hive temperature

In South America, the movement of stingless bee colonies outside their natural location is a common practice and, in many cases, meliponiculture activities are conducted in urban or semi-urban areas. In this study, we used a temperature/relative humidity probe inside the hives to assess indicators of hive dynamics to explore the adaptation of Scaptotrigona jujuyensis colonies located in an urban park outside the species’ natural range. The temperature inside the hives was negatively correlated with environmental temperature and its range was narrower than in the empty box (control). These results suggest that the colonies regulate the internal temperature and form a microenvironment, with average values ranging between 29 and 21 °C in the brood chamber, and between 27 and 19 °C in the storage chamber. The number of bees involved in the three flight activities studied varied with the time of the day, through the season and colony. Nevertheless, between 10:00 and 15:00 h, all colonies showed high and continuous activity. The pattern of activity curves of S. jujuyensis tends to be similar to other Scaptotrigona. Finally, we fit Generalized Linear Models to assess the effect of abiotic variables on the flight activity of S. jujuyensis through a negative binomial model. Our results show that the temperature of the brood chamber, relative humidity and colony size best predict the collection of pollen and removal pellets into the hive. These results contribute to the management and conservation of this native species in a new scenario of geographic distribution.

First large-scale study reveals important losses of managed honey bee and stingless bee colonies in Latin America

Over the last quarter century, increasing honey bee colony losses motivated standardized large-scale surveys of managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), particularly in Europe and the United States. Here we present the first large-scale standardized survey of colony losses of managed honey bees and stingless bees across Latin America. Overall, 1736 beekeepers and 165 meliponiculturists participated in the 2-year survey (2016–2017 and 2017–2018). On average, 30.4% of honey bee colonies and 39.6% of stingless bee colonies were lost per year across the region. Summer losses were higher than winter losses in stingless bees (30.9% and 22.2%, respectively) but not in honey bees (18.8% and 20.6%, respectively). Colony loss increased with operation size during the summer in both honey bees and stingless bees and decreased with operation size during the winter in stingless bees. Furthermore, losses differed significantly between countries and across years for both beekeepers and meliponiculturists. Overall, winter losses of honey bee colonies in Latin America (20.6%) position this region between Europe (12.5%) and the United States (40.4%). These results highlight the magnitude of bee colony losses occurring in the region and suggest difficulties in maintaining overall colony health and economic survival for beekeepers and meliponiculturists.

In-vitro queen rearing protocol for stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis Smith

South-East Asia falls behind in comparison to South America and Australia in beekeeping with stingless bees. This is partly contributed by the lack of proper management techniques and slow rate of natural colony multiplication in different bee species found in this part of the world. Production of natural queen bees in stingless bee colonies depends upon several factors, such as adequate nutrition, temperature regulation, seasonality, colony size, natural enemies among many others. The capacity to produce a large number of queen bees without depending upon the production of natural queen inside colonies makes in vitro rearing of stingless bee as a good help for the problem of slow colony multiplication. The present study describes in vitro queen rearing protocol for the Asian stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis Smith. The larval provision required for producing a queen bee was three times more than a natural worker bee. The in vitro queen bees were morphologically similar to the natural queens. The reproductive success of these in vitro queen bees also supported the proposed protocol. The technique would be useful in colony multiplication of this species at a faster rate and in developing management tactics for large-scale adoption in Indo-Malayan and Australasia regions.

Viruses in Brazilian stingless bees

Stingless bees are important pollinators in tropical and subtropical areas. The breeding of native stingless bee species from the Meliponini tribe to obtain honey, pollen, and geopropolis (meliponiculture) is a promising activity in Brazil with economic, social, and environmental impacts. Stingless bees can share food sources with Apis mellifera and other insects that can be vectors of pathogens. Here, we investigated seven stingless bee species from Brazil (Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides, Melipona scutellaris, Nannotrigona testaceicornis, Partamona helleri, Scaptotrigona xanthotricha, Tetragonisca angustula, and Trigona spinipes) screening for seven of the most common pathogenic viruses (ABPV, IAPV, BQCV, CBPV, SBV, KBV, and DWV) in A. mellifera in summer and winter seasons. All seven stingless bee species studied were positive for ABPV and IAPV (only in M. quadrifasciata anthidioides and T. spinipes), while ABPV was found in samples from summer and winter, IAPV was only found in winter. This is the first study detecting viruses in seven native stingless bee species in Brazil and because of the novelty of this area in Brazil, it is necessary to monitor native stingless bee colonies to investigate the impact of those viruses at a colony and individual level to avoid losses and impact to the native bees.

Thermoregulation of stingless bee colonies in boxes for rationale breeding in the Center-West of the state of Maranhão

Indigenous stingless bees of the subfamily Meliponinae are recognized as bees native to Brazil. They have an atrophied sting and are widely distributed throughout tropical regions, from Mexico to the south of Brazil on the American Continent. This study was carried out to evaluate the thermoregulatory behavior in colonies of stingless bees allocated in rational breeding boxes in the municipality of Grajaú, Central West region of the state of Maranhão. The project was developed at the IFMA Grajaú Campus, where two models of rational breeding boxes for stingless bees were made to evaluate which of the models has greater colonial development of two species of bees (Melipona fasciculata and Melipona flavolineata) when transferred from the native nests to the rational breeding boxes. To this end, digital thermometers were installed in stingless bee hives and thermo-hygrometers to monitor the maximum and minimum daily temperature for six months. Despite a wide variation in maximum and minimum external temperatures, the bees managed to maintain the temperature between 23.5º and 33.9ºC and the relative humidity between 39 and 64% inside the hives throughout the days, especially the hives in model 1. This was the most adapted prototype for rearing bees in this experiment, with good thermoregulation of stingless bee colonies throughout the day in both species over the study months.

First record of Aspergillus caelatus as a pathogen of Heterotrigona itama and Geniotrigona thoracica in Malaysia

Heterotrigona itama and Geniotrigona thoracica become popular in Malaysia as honey producer in the 21st century. Like other bee species, stingless bees can be infected by pathogens. Disease-related population declines may affect honey production, agricultural productivity, and biodiversity. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the health status of stingless bee colonies in selected bee farms in Malaysia. Adults Heterotrigona itama and Geniotrigona thoracica were collected from 79 colonies in 9 farms and screened for known pathogens of honey bees and stingless bees using 15 primer sets. All results were negative, indicating the absence of these pathogens in the bee specimens. During the bee sampling at Infoport Halal Hub UPM, we encountered a collapsed colony of H. itama. A fungal isolate was isolated and confirmed to be Aspergillus caelatus. Virulence tests revealed that A. caelatus exhibited high virulence to both H. itama and G. thoracica. Infected larvae became lethargic after 1–2 day after treatment (DAT) with white mycelium developed on their integument. The fungus caused 100 % larval mortality in both H. itama and G. thoracica after 8 DAT, with LC50 values of 7.58 × 103 conidia/µl and 6.24 × 103 conidia/µl respectively. Yellow-green conidia were observed on the cadavers. A. caelatus demonstrated high virulence towards both H. itama and G. thoracica, leading to severe larval mortality. This study represents the first documented case of a disease infecting stingless bees in Malaysia. Future research is needed to assess the prevalence of A. caelatus in various stingless bee species and other pollinators within the country.

Comparative analysis of the physicochemical, proximate, and antioxidant characteristics of stingless bee (Meliponula beccarii) honey from modern and wild beehives in Ethiopia.

There is a dearth of information on the comparative studies of the physicochemical, proximate, and antioxidant properties as well as quality standards of stingless bee honey (SBH) in Ethiopia. Hence, this study was designed to assess and compare the physicochemical, proximate, and antioxidant properties of SBH, specifically sourced from Meliponula beccarii, and produced under both wild and modern apiary conditions at two distinct geographical locations. A total of forty-six honey samples were meticulously collected from domesticated stingless bee colonies and naturally occurring wild nests at Wolmera and Cheliya districts. Pollen analysis unveiled eleven distinct bee plant species distributed across six families, with Asteraceae being the most prevalent, primarily represented by Guizotia scabra and Vernonia amygdalina. Notably, the physicochemical, proximate, and antioxidant properties of SBH collected from modern pot hives exhibited significant variances (p < .05) when compared to SBH from wild nests. Principal component analysis (PCA) delineated the differentiation of SBH sources based on both geographical location and the type of beehive. One-way ANOVA corroborated these distinctions, underscoring significantly higher levels (p < .05) of ash, electrical conductivity, free acidity, hydroxymethylfurfural, sucrose, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and radical scavenging activities of SBH from modern pot hives in Wolmera. Whereas, Cheliya modern pot hives recorded higher values in pH, hydroxymethylfurfural and maltose contents compared to the wild nest SBH. Further analysis through Pearson correlation highlighted a strong positive association between total phenolic content and total flavonoid content with the antioxidant capacity of SBH. These findings underscore the significance of integrating modern pot hives to enhance the quality of SBH within Ethiopia's beekeeping sector.

DIVERSITY OF STINGLESS BEES, Tetragonula sp. (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE) IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA

The present study was conducted to find the diversity of stingless bees (Tetragonula sp.) in Coimbatore, Madurai, Dindigul, and Trichy districts in Tamil Nadu, India. Adult worker bees were collected from feral stingless bee colonies from 16 locations, four from each district. The collected stingless bees were preserved in 70% alcohol (ethanol) and examined under a Leica stereo zoom microscope. Seventeen morphometric key characteristics were measured to know the diversity of stingless bees. The results revealed that two species of stingless bees, Tetragonula iridipennis and T. laeviceps were prevalent in the four selected districts of Tamil Nadu. Four vital morphometric characters of the worker bees namely the head width, the forewing length, the hind tibial length, and the whole body length helped to distinguish the two Tetragonula sp. Among all the locations, the bees collected from L1- Insectary, TNAU, Coimbatore had much higher values of the above four morphometric characters (1.67mm ± 0.04, 3.69mm ± 0.02, 1.53mm ± 0.01 and 3.98mm ± 0.14 respectively) and were identified to be T. laeviceps based on these key morphometric characters. The bees from rest of the 15 locations which had the morphometric values 1.59 to 1.61 mm, 3.20 to 3.41mm, 1.34 to 1.43mm and 3.51 to 3.65mm respectively were categorized as T. iridipennis.

Development of Artificial Stingless Bee Hive Monitoring using IoT System on Developing Colony

The trend of stingless bees’ farm in Malaysia has increased recently as it has been proven that its honey gives various benefits to human beings. This trend requires beekeepers to do more frequent inspections of beehives. However, the current practice of opening the cover to inspect the colony and honey will disrupt colony activity. According to a recent study, these stingless bees can only survive between 22 and 38 degrees Celsius, and harsh weather conditions might lead to the collapse of bee colonies. In order to ensure a consistent honey production, the IoT monitoring system will be implemented on an artificial stingless beehive. The system is equipped with an embedded system that utilizes a NodeMCU ESP8266, temperature and humidity sensors, and load cell sensors. Next, honey compartment weight, temperature and humidity inside stingless beehive, and temperature and humidity outside stingless beehive will be uploaded to the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, namely Thingspeak and Cayenne. The data is sent to Thingspeak via the REST API while to Cayenne by the MQTT API. All data from the artificial stingless bee hive indicating the occurrence of colony rising and has been uploaded to the IoT platform. By analysing the data that were recorded for 13 days, all of the input data such as the weight of the honey compartment, the temperature in the hive, and the humidity in the hive, display its respective characteristics. For the honey compart weight, it has been found that the stingless bee colony is rising as a result of the increasing honey and colony in the compartment weight. Regarding the hive temperature, it has been determined that the temperature inside the hive is stable around 26°C to 38°C in normal weather conditions. Whereas for humidity inside the hive, it is remained between 76.5% and 85.6% due to the moisture from the honey inside the compartment. Lastly, these results indicate that the colony living in the artificial hive of stingless bees is healthy and growing.

Distribution and Characteristics of Two Species of Stingless Bee Hives (Tetragonula spp.) in the Rural Landscape of Sumedang Regency (Indonesia)

Tetragonula beekeeping is in high demand, and the activity of hunting wild Tetragonula bees in nature is increasing. The purpose of this study was to determine the type and distribution of wild stingless bee colonies in the Sumedang area of Indonesia, as well as the characteristics of their hives in nature. We used survey methods in this research. Data collection was accomplished by studying and collecting biotic and abiotic data around hives. Two species of Tetragonula bees were found, namely Tetragonula laeviceps Smith at 71 locations in 6 sub-districts and Tetragonula drescheri Schwarz at 9 locations in 5 districts. Tetragonula bees like to occupy building gaps and holes in the stems of tall plants. Differences were found in the length of the hive entrance, the thickness of the hive door, the texture of the hive door, and the direction of the hive door for each species. Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light intensity greatly affect colony activity, whereas wind speed and weather conditions affect the condition of the hive door. The presence of food sources around the hive also affects the survival of the colony and colony activity.

A Sustainable Technique for Colony Multiplication by Eduction of Wild Nests of the Stingless Bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith

Colony multiplication of stingless bees, Tetragonula iridipennis, largely relies on the eduction of wild colonies from their natural nesting sites in India. During the hiving of wild colonies, colonies were destroyed with the loss of robust wild foragers and built-in storage reserves over the years. The present study was conducted to devise a technique to sustainably multiply the colonies of stingless bees from the wild colony and the colony establishment and development during the eduction process. The annexure hives provided for eduction were accepted in a shorter time (3.25 ± 1.18 days), with the construction of storage pots observed at 7.75 ± 1.59 days after hive acceptance by the bees. The movement of foragers between the wild colony and the annexure hives was noticed for 13.80 ± 4.20 days. The foragers settled in the annexure hives and started foraging after 18.20 ± 2.49 days. The advancing fronts were observed at 26.67 ± 2.58 days after the addition of the laying queen in the established annexure hives. There was a significant increase in the number of inhive workers after the queen seeding in the annexure hives. This technique is the easiest and most sustainable non-destructive way of multiplication of stingless bee colonies without loss in viability of the perennial wild colony.

First record of Leptus spp. (Acari: Erythraeidae) parasitizing stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini)

The first occurrence of Leptus mites parasitizing different species of stingless bees is reported. The samples were collected in the Argentinian province of Misiones on flowers and managed stingless bee colonies. Although the frequency registered was very low, the current report is relevant as it will drive research efforts on the understanding of parasite-host dynamics, consequences at the community level, and disease management in wild and productive contexts.

Optimizing honey production in stingless bee farming

Harapan Jaya Village, Way Ratai Subdistrict, Pesawaran Regency has very promising potential for cultivating trigona bees. Lecture and student from University of Lampung team conducted training on stingless bee cultivation in this village in 2022. At the end of 2022, several stingless bee colonies experienced deaths that were allegedly due to lack of nectar sources. This community service activity was carried out to provide understanding and training on vegetation management and adding stingless bee colonies. Activities are carried out with lectures, discussions, and hands-on practice. The results of the activities that have been carried out include the addition of seven types of nectar source plants and two stingless bee colonies. In addition, the community's understanding of the maintenance of stingless bee colonies and their supporting vegetation also increased. This is very supportive of long-term programmed in the achievement of SDGs, especially in the goals of life on land and no poverty.

Interactions between integrated pest management, pollinator supplementation, and normalized difference vegetation index in pumpkin, Cucurbita maxima (Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae), production.

Sustainable production of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duchesne) partly relies on integrated pest management (IPM) and pollination services. A farmer-managed field study was carried out in Yatta and Masinga Sub-Counties of Machakos County, Kenya, to determine the effectiveness of a recommended IPM package and its interaction with stingless bee colonies (Hypotrigona sp.) for pollinator supplementation (PS). The IPM package comprised Lynfield traps with cuelure laced with the organophosphate malathion, sprays of Metarhizium anisopliae (Mechnikoff) Sorokin isolate ICIPE 69, the most widely used fungal biopesticide in sub-Saharan Africa, and protein baits incorporating spinosad. Four treatments-IPM, PS, integrated pest and pollinator management (which combined IPM and PS), and control-were replicated 4 times. The experiment was conducted in 600 m2 farms in 2 normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) classes during 2 growing seasons (October 2019-March 2020 and March-July 2020). Fruits showing signs of infestation were incubated for emergence, fruit fly trap catches were counted weekly, and physiologically mature fruits were harvested. There was no effect of IPM, PS, and NDVI on yield across seasons. This study revealed no synergistic effect between IPM and PS in suppressing Tephritid fruit fly population densities and damage. Hypotrigona sp. is not an efficient pollinator of pumpkin. Therefore, we recommend testing other African stingless bees in pumpkin production systems for better pollination services and improved yields.

Management practices and seasonality affect stingless bee colony growth, foraging activity, and pollen diet in coffee agroecosystems

Stingless bees are essential pollinators in tropical ecosystems. Yet compared to their temperate zone counterparts, we know very little about how they respond to agriculture-associated land use, or how this effect is modulated by seasonal variation. Coffee, a dominant crop across the tropics, is grown under diverse management practices, making coffee agroecosystems an important context in which to investigate effects of agricultural management on stingless bees. We evaluated the performance and pollen diet of replicated experimental colonies of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana in three habitats in a coffee-dominated landscape in southern Chiapas, Mexico: a conventional sun coffee farm, a shaded organic coffee farm, and a forest fragment. We asked how habitat and seasonality influenced colony weight, forager activity, and pollen diet over one year. We placed eight experimental colonies in three habitats (three each in coffee farms; two in forest) and monitored them monthly for colony weight and forager activity. We collected corbicular pollen loads from returning foragers and identified pollen morphospecies. We compared performance and diet metrics across habitats and between wet and dry seasons. Colony performance was dramatically worse in the sun coffee farm; all sun coffee colonies died during the study. Colony performance did not differ between shade coffee and forest. Pollen diet richness was lower in the sun coffee colonies, but all habitats shared the same core pollen morphospecies. Across habitats, colony weight and activity and pollen diet richness decreased during the wet season. Our study suggests that conventional sun coffee cannot support stingless bee colonies, likely because of combined effects of agrochemical exposure and floral resource scarcity. By contrast, shade coffee is equivalent to forests in supporting stingless bee colonies.

An assessment of stingless beehive climate impact using multivariate recurrent neural networks

&lt;p&gt;A healthy bee colony depends on various elements, including a stable habitat, a sufficient source of food, and favorable weather. This paper aims to assess the stingless beehive climate data and examine the precise short-term forecast model for hive weight output. The dataset was extracted from a single hive, for approximately 36-hours, at every seven seconds time stamp. The result represents the correlation analysis between all variables. The evaluation of root-mean-square error (RMSE), as well as the RMSE performance from various types of topologies, are tested on four different forecasting window sizes. The proposed forecast model considers seven of input vectors such as hive weight, an inside temperature, inside humidity, outside temperature, outside humidity, the dewpoint, and bee count. The various network architecture examined for minimal RMSE are long short-term memory (LSTM) and gated recurrent units (GRU). The LSTM1X50 topology was found to be the best fit while analyzing several forecasting windows sizes for the beehive weight forecast. The results obtained indicate a significant unusual symptom occurring in the stingless bee colonies, which allow beekeepers to make decisions with the main objective of improving the colony’s health and propagation.&lt;/p&gt;

Shifting range in a stingless bee leads to pre-mating reproductive interference between species

Human-induced shifts in species’ ranges can increase contact between closely related species and lead to reproductive interference. In Australia, climate change and trade in stingless bee colonies is increasing the range overlap of two cryptic species: Tetragonula carbonaria and T. hockingsi. To investigate reproductive interactions between these species, we validated a diagnostic-PCR test based on the mitochondrial gene COI to ID field specimens to species. We then assessed the likelihood of reproductive interference in four ways. First, we imaged the male genitalia of each species and found no evidence of reproductive character displacement. Second, we assessed species composition of mating aggregations in an area of sympatry (Southeast Queensland) and confirmed that some males join the mating aggregations of interspecific colonies. Third, we translocated T. hockingsi colonies into the southern range of T. carbonaria (Sydney) and tracked their ability to requeen. These translocated colonies attracted mating aggregations comprised almost entirely of interspecific males, but never formed hybrid colonies; instead, queens either mated with their brothers, or the colony failed to requeen at all. Finally, we presented T. carbonaria males with either conspecific or interspecific virgin queens and found that males attempted to mate only with their own species’ queens. In all, we conclude that reproductive barriers between these species are complete with respect to “short-range” mating cues, but not for “long-range” mate attraction cues. Our study highlights that hive movements can increase some forms of pre-mating reproductive interference between managed bee species, even where the species do not actually mate or hybridize.