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Large-Scale Evaluation of Water Traps For Their Efficiency in Collecting Male Stingless Bees (Apidae: Meliponini)


Affiliations
1 Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru 560 065, India ., India
2 Department of Entomology, College of Horticulture, Thenzawl 796 186, India., India
3 Department of Zoology, Hislop College, Nagpur 440 001, India., India
4 Department of Entomology, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur 492 012, India., India
 

A large-scale evaluation of water traps for their efficiency in trapping male stingless bees was done, which involved 41 locations from 9 states and 88, 7 and 5 stingless bee colonies of Tetragonula, Lepidotrigona and Lisotrigona species respectively. We succeeded in collecting male bees in 82 colonies of Tetragonula spp., five of Lepido­trigona spp. and two of Lisotrigona spp. The male bees were trapped throughout the year with more than 10 males/colony in March, April, July, September, October and December. Males of Tetragonula, Lepidotrigona and Lisotrigona formed 0.17–14.29%, 0.54–21.53% and 12.35–14.21% of the total bees trapped per colony respectively. We conclude that a water trap is the best technique to collect male bees of all three genera (Tetragonula, Lepidotrigona and Lisotrigona) occurring in India within a brief period during any time of the year.

Keywords

Collection Efficiency, Flight Pattern, Male Stingless Bees, Water Trap.
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  • Large-Scale Evaluation of Water Traps For Their Efficiency in Collecting Male Stingless Bees (Apidae: Meliponini)

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Authors

Shashidhar Viraktamath
Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru 560 065, India ., India
T. Rojeet
Department of Entomology, College of Horticulture, Thenzawl 796 186, India., India
Ashish Kumar Jha
Department of Zoology, Hislop College, Nagpur 440 001, India., India
Jagruti Roy
Department of Zoology, Hislop College, Nagpur 440 001, India., India
Shubham Rao
Department of Entomology, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur 492 012, India., India

Abstract


A large-scale evaluation of water traps for their efficiency in trapping male stingless bees was done, which involved 41 locations from 9 states and 88, 7 and 5 stingless bee colonies of Tetragonula, Lepidotrigona and Lisotrigona species respectively. We succeeded in collecting male bees in 82 colonies of Tetragonula spp., five of Lepido­trigona spp. and two of Lisotrigona spp. The male bees were trapped throughout the year with more than 10 males/colony in March, April, July, September, October and December. Males of Tetragonula, Lepidotrigona and Lisotrigona formed 0.17–14.29%, 0.54–21.53% and 12.35–14.21% of the total bees trapped per colony respectively. We conclude that a water trap is the best technique to collect male bees of all three genera (Tetragonula, Lepidotrigona and Lisotrigona) occurring in India within a brief period during any time of the year.

Keywords


Collection Efficiency, Flight Pattern, Male Stingless Bees, Water Trap.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv124%2Fi9%2F1101-1104