Pollen Harvest by Stingless Bee Foragers (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponinae)

Abstract

Data on pollen load capacity and flower constancy are discussed for nine stingless bee species. The foragers present high levels of flower constancy and often visit only one flower type (on average 97% of bee foragers), rarely a few flower types (on average 3% of bee foragers), during the same foraging trip. The latter foragers exhibit no tendencies for choosing similar sources, related either to flower type or to pollen type. Pollen load capacity (the ratio between pollen load weight/worker weight) decreases as forager body weight increases, so it is larger in smaller stingless bees species and smaller in larger ones. Nevertheless, it seems that specific load capacity also depends on pollen types.