Studies on floral diversity foraging activity and nest architecture of stingless bee tetragonula iridipennis smith hymenoptera apidae meliponini

Abstract

The nest architecture, floral diversity, foraging activity of stingless bee in relation to ambient climate variables, palynological and melissopalynological observations, preparation of bee floral calendar, determination of total phenolic and total flavonoid content of honey and pollen of stingless bee, T. iridipennis were studied are furnished. newlineA total of 115 stingless bee colonies were recorded in and around Agricultural College and Research Institute campus, Madurai. Out of these 115 nests observed, the wall cavities were found to be preferred nesting sites of T. iridipennis sheltering as many as 63 nests. Of these, 63 colonies found in wall cavities in buildings, 62 were found in stone walls and only one on plastered walls. As many as 50 colonies were present inside the cavities of tree trunks. Of these, 49 colonies were observed in banyan tree and one in copper pod tree. Iron pipes were also preferred by 2 colonies, one each located in lamp post and drainage pipes. Nesting areas preferred were residential and educational areas (48.24%), while agricultural and forest areas (51.30%). Nests found in tree cavities, wall cavities and iron pipes height from the ground level ranging from 20 to 297.10 cm, 12 to 262.60 cm and 31 to 119.20 cm, respectively. As far as nest shape preference is considered, oval shape (73.5%), circular (21.2%) and irregular (5.3%) were mostly preferred. Nest entrance width ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 cm. The nest orientations recorded higher preference for west (28.3%), followed by north (15%), southeast and southwest (13.3%), newlinenortheast (10.6%), east (8.8%), northwest (8%) and south (2.7%). The nest surface was smooth (23.9%) and rough (76.1%), the colour of nest was brown (60.2%), black (38.05%) and grey (1.76%). The nest entrance materials used by bees were mixture of resin, wax and sand (32.7%), resin and wax (23%). The density of pollen pots ranged from 5 to 11 cells with a mean of 8.14 cells/cubic inch. The Density of honey pots ranged from 5 to 8 cells/cubic inch with a mean of 6.15