Hindawi Publishing Corporation Psyche Volume 2012, Article ID 934951, 13 pages doi:10.1155/2012/934951 Research Article Floral Resources Used by Euglossini Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Coastal Ecosystems of the Atlantic Forest L. C. Rocha-Filho,1 C. Krug,2 C. I. Silva,1 andC.A.Garofalo´ 1 1 Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, CiˆenciaseLetrasdeRibeirao˜ Preto (FFCLRP), Universidade de Sao˜ Paulo (USP), Avenida Bandeirantes 3900, 14040-901 Ribeirao˜ Preto, SP, Brazil 2 EmpresaBrasileiradePesquisaAgropecuaria,´ CPAA, Rodovia AM-10, Km 29, Zona Rural, Caixa Postal 319, 69010-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to L. C. Rocha-Filho,
[email protected] Received 16 July 2012; Accepted 28 August 2012 Academic Editor: Kleber Del-Claro Copyright © 2012 L. C. Rocha-Filho et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In spite of playing an important ecological role as pollinators of tropical ecosystems, orchid bees are still poorly known regarding their floral resources. Aiming at a better comprehension of the importance of different plants visited by the Euglossini and, consequently, their role in the maintenance and reproduction of plant species in tropical ecosystems, this study aimed at identifying the flowers visited by those bees in two different areas of the Atlantic Forest in the northern coast of the state of Sao˜ Paulo, Brazil. Sampling was carried out from August 2007 to July 2009 in two coastal ecosystems in Ubatuba, Brazil. In order to obtain information on flower resources collected by Euglossini bees in loco, all bees observed on flowers were collected, pollinaria of Orchidaceae occasionally attached to the body of males were identified, and the pollinic analysis of 68 females was carried out.