Datos de recolección de recursos botánicos y de cerumen de colmenas: Registro de origen botánico y origen entomológico

Abstract

Abstract Stingless bee forage for sticky materials (resins, mucilage, latex, etc.) from some plants, transport the materials to their nests, and mix them with beeswax (wax secreted by bee body glands) to make cerumen, which is the structural material of all stingless bee nests. At times I observed some colonies robbing cerumen from other stingless bee nests. Resin and latex deposits were sometimes found within nests. In this work, plant identity, organs and tissues involved in the secretion of resin, mucilage and latex were identified as being foraged by the stingless bees and Apis mellifera Tetragonisca fiebrigi, Scaptotrigona jujuyensis and Geotrigona argentina in the Chaco region of Argentina. And, non plant resources (mud, cerumen and waxy material from bee nests) were also reported. Sticky material found on the corbicula was microphotographed. The diversity of cerumen structures in nests is shown. In addition, cerumen pots for storing and preserving honey and pollen provisions are comparatively illustrated. Although only a few occasional observations on the foraging of sticky material were documented, this behaviour and the botanical origin of cerumen need to be further studied in the Chaco region.

Keywords cerumen • glandular trichomes • honey pots • latex foraging • latex loads • pollen pots • resin foraging • resin loads • sticky mucilage foraging