Stingless bee classification and biology (Hymenoptera, Apidae): a review, with an updated key to genera and subgenera.

Stingless bees (Meliponini) are a ubiquitous and diverse element of the pantropical melittofauna, and have significant cultural and economic importance. This review outlines their diversity, and provides identification keys based on external morphology, brief accounts for each of the recognized genera, and an updated checklist of all living and fossil species. In total there are currently 605 described extant species in 45 extant genera, and a further 18 extinct species in nine genera, seven of which are extinct.

Review of Trigona (Nostotrigona) Engel, 2021 from Brazil with description of three new species (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini).

Trigona Jurine, 1807 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) is a Neotropical genus of stingless bees that is most diverse in the Amazon biome. The subgenus T. (Nostotrigona) was recently described and contains the taxa of the T.

Floral biology and reproductive system of physic nut (Jatropha curcas L., Euphorbiaceae) in 'Recôncavo da Bahia', Brazil.

Understanding the floral and reproductive biology of botanical species is crucial for the development of strategies in plant breeding systems. Jatropha curcas L. is a promising species for the manufacture of biofuels, being previously studied mainly in genetic improvement to develop characteristics suitable to biofuels.

Data standardization of plant-pollinator interactions.

Background: Animal pollination is an important ecosystem function and service, ensuring both the integrity of natural systems and human well-being. Although many knowledge shortfalls remain, some high-quality data sets on biological interactions are now available. The development and adoption of standards for biodiversity data and metadata has promoted great advances in biological data sharing and aggregation, supporting large-scale studies and science-based public policies.

Sympatric cleptobiotic stingless bees have species-specific cuticular profiles that resemble their hosts.

Stingless bees are the largest group of eusocial pollinators with diverse natural histories, including obligate cleptobionts (genus Lestrimelitta) that completely abandoned flower visitation to rely on other stingless bees for food and nest materials. Species of Lestrimeliita are thought to specialize upon different host species, and deception through chemical similarity has been proposed as a mechanism to explain this phenomenon. In the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Scaptotrigona pectoralis is a species chemically distinct from, and not preferred as a host by, locally widespread Lestrimeliita niitkib; witnessing attacks on S.

What Can Restoration Do for Bee Communities? An Example in the Atlantic Rainforest in Paraná State, Southern Brazil.

Biodiversity conservation is a challenge for today. Studies regarding different ecosystems have become extremely important for understanding communities and promoting strategies for conservation, especially those involving forest restoration as strategy to reverse biodiversity loss. We compared bee diversity indices between three remnants of Atlantic rainforest in southern Brazil and four adjacent areas that were reforested after shale mining, and which are now under different restoration levels.

A new species of Ceratina (Ceratinula) Moure, 1941, with notes on the taxonomy and distribution of Ceratina (Ceratinula) manni Cockerell, 1912, and an identification key for species of this subgenus known from Brazil (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Ceratinini).

A new species of the small carpenter bee, genus Ceratina (Ceratinula) Moure, from the Cerrado Biome in midwestern Brazil is described and illustrated. Ceratina (Ceratinula) fioreseana Oliveira, is easily distinguished from its congeners by the size of the facial maculations and the honey-yellow color of the legs and antennal scape, which distinguish it especially from Ceratina (Ceratinula) manni Cockerell, 1912, the most similar species in terms of facial maculation patterns. The geographic records of , here interpreted as endemic to the semiarid Caatinga region in northeastern Brazil, are presented, with new records for the Brazilian states of Piauí, Ceará and Bahia.

Chemical composition, cytotoxicity, and antibacterial activity of propolis from Africanized honeybees and three different Meliponini species.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Propolis extracts are widely used in traditional folk medicine and exhibit several properties such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial. However, these products have not been investigated in combination with medicines used in clinical practice.

Aim Of The Study: This study aimed to evaluate the chemical composition of propolis extracts from Apis mellifera scutellata and different Meliponini species and characterize their cytotoxicity against tumor cells, antibacterial effects, and interference with the actions of doxorubicin and gentamicin.

Does a coffee plantation host potential pollinators when it is not flowering? Bee distribution in an agricultural landscape with high biological diversity in the Brazilian Campo Rupestre.

Background: Natural environments within agricultural landscapes have been recognized as reservoirs of biodiversity and, therefore, providers of fundamental ecosystem services to human beings. Bees are the main providers of pollination and thus contribute to the production of food consumed worldwide. In this work, we evaluated the distribution of bees in an agricultural landscape of coffee plantation before and after coffee flowering.

Review of Scaura Schwarz, 1938 (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini).

Scaura Schwarz is a small, widely distributed Neotropical genus of stingless bees whose workers and males have the metabasitarsus as broad as or wider than the metatibia. The genus currently includes four valid species. A species complex composed of three additional species are described here as new (S.

Pesticide Exposure Assessment Paradigm for Stingless Bees.

Although the importance of bees as the pollinators responsible for maintaining gene flow for many native and cultivated plants in ecosystems around the world is recognized, much of their biodiversity and behavior remains to be discovered. Stingless bees are considered key pollinators for several plant species in tropical and subtropical ecosystems and they also provide pollination services for economically important agricultural crops. Many countries are using the honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758, Hymenoptera: Apidae) as a surrogate to evaluate the risk of pesticides to all species of bees.

The real taxonomic identity of Friese, 1900, with notes on type specimens (Hymenoptera, Apidae).

The taxonomic history of Friese, 1900 and its clarification based on the observation of the types and literature data are treated in this study. The paper discusses the validity of the previously proposed lectotype, deposited in the ZMB (Berlin, Germany). Based on the type series deposited in HNHM (Budapest, Hungary) as well as the original description, a new lectotype and 15 paralectotypes from Amazon forest (São Paulo de Olivença, Amazonas) are designated.

Male sleeping aggregation of multiple Eucerini bee genera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil.

Males of some groups of bees have to find a place outside the nests to sleep, sometimes forming "male sleeping aggregations". Here we report the first record of "dense" male sleeping aggregation of two different genera of Eucerini bees observed in Bahia, Brazil. We discuss the possible aim of this kind of aggregation as well the plant utilized on aggregate.

A new Chlerogelloides from northeastern Brazil and French Guiana, with a key to the species (Hymenoptera, Halictidae).

A third species of the rare augochlorine bee genus Chlerogelloides Engel et al. (Halictinae, Augochlorini) is described and figured. Chlerogelloides nexosasp.

A new species of Chilicola from Bahia, Brazil (Hymenoptera, Colletidae), with a key to the species of the megalostigma group.

The bee genus Chilicola Spinola (Xeromelissinae) is recorded from the State of Bahia, Brazil for the first time, based on a new species of the megalostigma group of the subgenus Hylaeosoma Ashmead. Chilicola (Hylaeosoma) kevanisp. n.

A new species of Centris ( Centris) (Fabricius) from northeastern Brazil, with taxonomic notes on C. ( C.) pulchra Moure, Oliveira & Viana (Hymenoptera, Apidae).

We describe a new species of the bee genus Centris, Centris (Centris) byrsonimae Mahlmann & Oliveira sp. n., whose name has appeared as a nomen nudum in the literature since 1985.

The identity of the Neotropical stingless bee Frieseomelitta meadewaldoi (Cockerell, 1915) (Hymenoptera, Apidae).

A new study of a surviving syntype of Trigona meadewaldoi Cockerell, 1915, was undertaken and several widely employed names for Neotropical stingless bees recognized as junior synonyms. A lectotype is designated for Trigona meadewaldoi and the following new synonymies established: Tetragona francoi Moure, 1946, and Trigona (Frieseomelitta) freiremaiai Moure, 1963. These nomenclatural matters are here settled and the species thoroughly characterized in advance of a forthcoming phylogenetic consideration of the genus Frieseomelitta von Ihering, 1912.

Utilization of floral resources by bees of the genus Frieseomelitta von Ihering (Hymenoptera: Apidae).

The present study intended to verify which factors (phylogenetic relationship or local ecological conditions) would determine how Frieseomelitta bees use floral resources. The data obtained in the literature on biocenotic studies of Apoidea visiting flowers in Brazil were analyzed, with identification and quantification of floral resources used by Frieseomelitta species in different areas. The phenogram of similarity on use of resources among Frieseomelitta species was compared to the phylogenetic hypothesis proposed for the group.