Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the State of Bahia, Brazil
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Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (2012) 84(3): 679-688 (Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences) Printed version ISSN 0001-3765 / Online version ISSN 1678-2690 www.scielo.br/aabc Areas of Natural Occurrence of Melipona scutellaris Latreille, 1811 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the state of Bahia, Brazil ROGÉRIO M.O. ALVES1, CARLOS A.L. CARVALHO1, BRUNO A. SOUZA2 and WYRATAN S. SANTOS1 1Centro de Ciências Agrárias Ambientais e Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, Caixa Postal 118, 44380-000 Cruz das Almas, BA, Brasil 2Embrapa Meio-Norte, Núcleo de Pesquisas com Abelhas, Av. Duque de Caxias, 5650, Buenos Aires, 64006-220 Teresina, PI, Brasil Manuscript received on March 15, 2010; accepted for publication on October 26, 2010. ABSTRACT The bee Melipona scutellaris is considered the reared meliponine species with the largest distribution in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, with records from the state of Rio Grande do Norte down to the state of Bahia. Considering the importance of this species in the generation of income for family agriculture and in the preservation of areas with natural vegetation, this study aimed at providing knowledge on the distribution of natural colonies of M. scutellaris in the state of Bahia. Literature information, interviews with stingless bee beekeepers, and expeditions were conducted to confirm the natural occurrence of the species. A total of 102 municipalities showed records for M. scutellaris, whose occurrence was observed in areas ranging from sea level up to 1,200-meter height. The occurrence of this species in the state of Bahia is considered to be restricted to municipalities on the coastal area and the Chapada Diamantina with its rainforests. Geographic coordinates, elevation, climate and vegetation data were obtained, which allowed a map to be prepared for the area of occurrence in order to support conservation and management policies for the species. Key words: Stingless bee beekeeping, uruçu bee, stingless bees, distribution. INTRODUCTION the subject of hunting in order to extract honey (Kerr et al. 1996, Imperatriz-Fonseca et al. 2007). The species Melipona scutellaris, locally known Mariano Filho (1911) stated that this species was as “Uruçu do Nordeste” or “Uruçu verdadeira”, distributed from the Amazon Region down to the state was one of the first bee species domesticated of Bahia. Schwarz (1932) referred to M. scutellaris by Potiguara, Kiriri, Xucuru, Pataxó, Paiaku, and reported the states of Bahia and Pernambuco as Tupicuruba and Aymoré indians. The Portuguese areas of occurrence, where this species was found colonizers, who enjoyed honey of this species, by Ducke. In the same study, in an analysis of the soon learned rearing techniques that led uruçu to distribution proposed by Drory, which included the become one of the most frequently reared species state of Ceará, Schwarz analyzed a colony that was of stingless bees in the Northeast and, consequently, maintained in that state but actually came from the state of Bahia. In another study, Schwarz (1948) Correspondence to: Bruno de Almeida Souza E-mail: [email protected] reported that M. scutellaris distribution would An Acad Bras Cienc (2012) 84 (3) 680 ROGÉRIO M.O. ALVES, CARLOS A.L. CARVALHO, BRUNO A. SOUZA and WYRATAN S. SANTOS extend from Mato Grosso to Pará, and that the bee the states of Bahia and Pernambuco it can be found also occurred in Guyana, Suriname and Panama. inland in humid mountain ranges; the largest rearings Lamartine (1962) studied the distribution of this are located on the coast and in the highlands, such as species and demonstrated that it inhabits the humid Caruaru and Garanhuns in the state of Pernambuco region of the Northeast and can be found throughout and on the coast of the state of Bahia. the Northeastern coast, from the state of Bahia up to Bahia has a vast expanse of land with Rio Grande do Norte, mainly occupying the Atlantic rainforests distributed in many regions, especially Rainforest biome, although it might also occur in some the coastal area, which spans for 1,000 km where inland areas in the states of Pernambuco, Alagoas, once existed one of the country’s largest Atlantic and Bahia (Nogueira-Neto 1970, Oliveira et al. 1986). rainforest areas. This coastal area is characterized These studies expanded the distribution area for this by ombrophilous and humid forest vegetation, species. However, it is believed that such reports can which is the ideal habitat for several bee species be attributed mainly to information from collaborators including social species of the subtribe Meliponina. that would send specimens to taxonomists. Within this context, M. scutellaris stands out According to Nogueira-Neto (1970), the term because it is the best known and most managed “uruçu” designates several bees of the Brazilian stingless bee species in Bahia, inhabiting biomes fauna, which may be one of the reasons for the with similar characteristics, but in distinct and equivocal information on the widespread distribution sometimes little known areas. As the stingless bee of M. scutellaris. Observations made by the author beekeeping activity increases in the state and the RMOA in the Amazon Region allowed to verify demand for stingless bee products is on the rise, the that a large part of the local population is comprised pursuit for new information on Northeastern Uruçu of northeastern people that introduced regional has been valued and expanded. terms during colonization times. An interesting This study aimed at identifying the areas of fact also concerns to the existence of a species natural occurrence of M. scutellaris L. (Apidae: — Melipona eburnea — in the Municipality of Meliponina) in the state of Bahia, Brazil, providing Careiro-AM, which visually does not differ from M. background information for future conservation scutellaris and is called “uruçu” by some stingless and management strategies for the species. bee beekeepers. Such similarities can be confirmed in Schwarz (1932) who cited the classification of MATERIALS AND METHODS this species performed by Ducke in 1916, then considered to be M. eburnea, a subspecies of M. A database containing the localities in the state of scutellaris, i.e., M. scutellaris eburnea. Bahia with M. scutellaris records was organized in Santos and Amorim (2007) emphasized that an electronic spreadsheet and fed with information the delimitation of endemic areas depends on the obtained by three means: (1) interviews with accuracy of phylogenetic information; therefore, it is residents of the region about the existence of quite plausible that contradictions will exist when the the species at the locality for later verification distribution of a species in a given area is established. in locu; (2) collection of bees in the field at sites Observations made by RMOA during excursions previously indicated by stingless bee beekeepers; to Northeastern Brazil confirmed that the species and (3) literature survey. Field data were collected inhabits the coastal strip that extends from Rio Grande from 1985 to 2007; specimens were captured with do Norte to Bahia and is distributed through the states an insect net, killed with ether or ethyl acetate, of Pernambuco, Paraíba, Alagoas and Sergipe. In mounted, maintained in an entomological collection An Acad Bras Cienc (2012) 84 (3) OCCURRENCE OF Melipona scutellaris 681 and later sent for identification to the Entomology RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Laboratory at Universidade Federal do Recôncavo The occurrence of M. scutellaris was recorded in da Bahia (UFRB), Cruz das Almas-BA, Brazil. 102 municipalities of Bahia, from a total of 417, Climatic, topographic and vegetation data corresponding to 24.5%. The climate, elevation were obtained from Superintendência de Estudos range and geographic coordinate data for the Econômicos e Sociais da Bahia (SEI 2007) and natural distribution of M. scutellaris in Bahia are from Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística summarized in Table I. (IBGE 1992, 2007). Geographic coordinates and elevation data were obtained with a MLRSP 12X DISTRIBUTION AND CLIMATE IN THE AREA OF GPS receiver and supplemented with information NATURAL OCCURRENCE from the SEI database (2002, 2007). The climate classification and division into mesoclimates were Based on the surveys and visits made, it can be made according to the differences in humidity of stated that, in general, the species was restricted to each locality (IBGE 1981). the state’s humid and sub-humid regions, with the Individual lines were constructed from basic occurrence of forests and contact areas surrounded units (coordinates) representing the distance among in some regions by relatively dry areas, which the points. The intersection of these coordinates constitutes an ecological barrier among larger resulted in a panbiogeographic node that represents forest refuge areas that, according to P.E. Vanzolini the area of occurrence of the species (Morrone (unpublished data), are small survival areas. This 2004, Yanez-Ordóñez et al. 2008). distribution can be visualized by marking the The information was used to construct maps of geographic coordinates of the municipalities where occurrence for the species in the state of Bahia using the species occurs and through the construction of the SPRING 4.1.1 software (Camara et al. 1996). dispersal lines that, according to Morrone (2004), TABLE I Natural occurrence of Melipona scutellaris in the state of Bahia. Total number of Elevation Latitude Longitude Climates in Humidity