Trap-nests for stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Meliponini) Ricardo Oliveira, Cristiano Menezes, Ademilson Soares, Vera Fonseca To cite this version: Ricardo Oliveira, Cristiano Menezes, Ademilson Soares, Vera Fonseca. Trap-nests for stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Meliponini). Apidologie, Springer Verlag, 2012, 44 (1), pp.29-37. 10.1007/s13592- 012-0152-y. hal-01201269 HAL Id: hal-01201269 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01201269 Submitted on 17 Sep 2015 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. 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Apidologie (2013) 44:29–37 Original article * INRA, DIB and Springer-Verlag, France, 2012 DOI: 10.1007/s13592-012-0152-y Trap-nests for stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Meliponini) 1 2,3 Ricardo Caliari OLIVEIRA , Cristiano MENEZES , 4 5 Ademilson Espencer Egea SOARES , Vera Lúcia Imperatriz FONSECA 1Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Evolutionary Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands 2Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil 3Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, PA, Brazil 4Departamento de Genética da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil 5Universidade Federal Rural do Semiárido, Mossoró, RN, Brazil Received 8 April 2012 – Revised 27 May 2012 – Accepted 5 June 2012 Abstract – Most stingless bee species build their nests inside tree hollows. In this paper, we present trap-nest containers which simulate nesting cavities so as to attract swarms of stingless bees. Although regularly used by stingless bee beekeepers in Brazil, this technique to obtain new colonies has not yet been systematically studied. We used two different types of trap-nests (plastic and cardboard) of four different sizes (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 L) containing propolis extract and wax. Over a period of 2 years, 61 swarms of nine different stingless bee species were attracted to the trap-nests. Most swarms chose the largest container (3 L); swarms were collected mostly in springtime (October–December). The plastic containers were more successfully occupied than others by stingless bee swarms. Trap-nests are a viable tool for stingless beekeepers, researchers and conservation biologists to obtain and study stingless bee colonies. stingless bees / trap-nest / swarming / Meliponini 1. INTRODUCTION for each species (Roubik 2006; Rasmussen and Camargo 2008). The majority of stingless bee species (Hyme- In highly eusocial bees (honey bees and noptera, Meliponini) build their nests inside pre- stingless bees), the foundation of new colonies existing hollows, usually in tree trunks, branches occurs through swarming. Unlike honeybees, or ground cavities (Roubik 1983, 2006; the swarming process in stingless bees is Nogueira-Neto 1997;Eltzetal.2003). Few gradual and occurs in rather small numbers. species can build their own cavity inside termite During the swarm process in stingless bees, nests (Camargo and Pedro 2003), and some can workers from the mother nest choose a new build exposed nests on walls or tree branches cavity and start to prepare it by cleaning and (Roubik 2006, Rasmussen and Camargo 2008). bringing nest material from the mother nest. Nest architecture, entrance shape and population They build the colony entrance (which is size are very diverse and usually characteristic usually species specific) and food pots, and some workers start to forage while others Corresponding author: R.C. Oliveira, remain visiting the mother nest. When the new [email protected] nest is ready, more workers fly together with a Manuscript editor: James Nieh virgin queen, which will perform the nuptial 30 R.C. Oliveira et al. flight soon after arriving at the new nest. The an important step to improving success rates and contact between mother and daughter nest can making this technique a viable tool for beekeep- last from few days to several months, according ing, research and conservation of stingless bees. to resources availability and the stingless bee The objectives of this study were to verify the species (Nogueira-Neto 1954;Juliani1967; effectiveness of the use of trap-nests for stingless Terada 1972; Wille and Orozco 1975; Inoue et bees in terms of: (1) which stingless bee species al. 1984; Engels and Imperatriz-Fonseca 1990; are attracted to trap-nests; (2) the ideal volume for van Veen and Sommeijer 2000). It has been each species; (3) the best season to attract predicted that many stingless bee species need swarms; (4) whether one material is preferable to swarm only once in 20 years to maintain their to another; and (5) what limitations, if any, this populations (Slaa 2006). Factors like the colony technique suffers from. We also discuss the capacity to generate virgin queens and workers possibility of using trap-nests in stingless bee for the swarm are very important in the conservation efforts. swarming process (Michener 1974). Although the swarming process has been described several times, many aspects remain unknown; 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS for example, how and why do they choose the new nesting site. 2.1. Trap-nests Stingless bee beekeepers have observed that stingless bees tend to establish new nests in old Plastic bottles and cardboard boxes with four different hives which were previously occupied by other volumes were used to build the trap-nests (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, colonies. Based on these observations, they and 3.0 L). These two materials were chosen because started to lay out empty containers containing they are relatively easy to obtain and cheap (compared to propolis and wax around their meliponaries, in wooden boxes, for example), facilitating the use of order to attract the swarms to these “traps”. hundreds of them and decreasing the possibility of Many beekeepers report success in obtaining robbery. Each trap-nest consists of a set of four different new colonies in this manner. Such “trap-nests” volumes, made either of plastic or cardboard (Figure 1). A solution of propolis was made by diluting batumen can be made from different materials (such as and cerumen of different stingless bee species (Meli- wood, plywood, cardboard or plastic) and are pona quadrifasciata, Tetragonisca angustula, Frieseo- often baited with substances attractive to bees mellita varia,andScaptotrigona sp.) in alcohol. This such as propolis, honey and/or wax. solution was then sprayed inside the containers. A PVC The use of trap-nests is the only legal method elbow (20 mm) coated in Apis mellifera wax and of collecting stingless bee colonies in the field in propolis solution was inserted in the middle section of Brazil (CONAMA 2004). Moreover, collecting the container to act as an entrance tube. Plastic wild nests is costly in terms of both time and containers were black to prevent light shining through labor. Although some people are successful in the walls, and the cardboard trap-nests were wrapped collecting established colonies from trees without with black plastic bags to protect them from rain. Every apparent loss (Colleto-Silva 2005), this technique 6 months, more propolis solution was spread at the entrance and the damaged trap-nests were refurbished. is not ideal as it may result in the death of the tree and has high rates of colony loss due to 2.2. Study site and experimental setup damage to the colony during transfer to a hive. Although the use of trap-nests by stingless bee The study was carried at University of São Paulo beekeepers is becoming more common, this (USP), Ribeirão Preto campus (21°09′50″S, 47°51′ technique has only been studied a few times 30″W) and at Aretuzina Farm in São Simão (21°26′ before, mainly looking to see whether the trap- 18″S, 47° 34′45″W), about 40 km from the campus. nests were occupied or not by stingless bees (Inoue These areas show a relative high density of stingless et al. 1993; Malkowski et al. 2006; Alvarenga bee nests, as meliponaries stocked with several 2008). Understanding how the trap-nests work is species are kept in both of them. The sites are “green Trap-nests for stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Meliponini) 31 a b Figure 1. Trap-nests installed on tree trunks: a plastic trap-nest, b cardboard trap-nest. islands” surrounded by urban areas or agricultural analyses with Monte Carlo permutation tests (10,000 fields. Currently, there are 21 stingless bee species random permutations) to evaluate whether the ob- among native and introduced at Ribeirão Preto served frequencies were different from random. A campus and approximately 10 more are kept in hives Pearson test was used to measure the correlation in the scientific meliponary (Freitas 2001; Oliveira, between the average monthly temperature and the unpublished data). number of swarms to the trap-nests. Statistical The trap-nests were installed on tree trunks ca. 1.5 m analysis was carried out using R 2.11.1 (R Develop- in height. Their positions at each site was randomly ment Core Team 2010). chosen. The study was carried out from April 2007 to April 2009. In the first year, we used only plastic trap- nests (200 groups of plastic trap-nests at Ribeirão Preto 3. RESULTS campus and 100 groups at Aretuzina Farm). In the second year, cardboard trap-nests were added at both study sites (200 groups of cardboard trap-nests at Ribeirão Preto 3.1. Species attractiveness campus and 100 groups at Aretuzina Farm).