Diversity, Nest Preferences, and Forage Plants of Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) from West Halmahera, North Moluccas, Indonesia

Abstract

S<span lang="IN">urvey of stingless bee diversity, nesting preferences, and </span>forage<span lang="IN"> plants </span>was conducted in <span lang="IN">West Halmahera across 134 collection sites. </span>This research was<span lang="IN"> aimed to </span>determine species diversity, nesting preference and habitat, and domin<span lang="IN">a</span>nt for<span lang="IN">a</span>ge pl<span lang="IN">a</span>nts. There were three species found, <span lang="IN">the most common species being </span><span lang="IN">Tetragonula clypearis (Friese), followed by T. sapiens (Cockerell), and last T. biroi (Friese).</span> Based on the morphology characters of each species, the key identification was provided. The most colonies were found in public houses <span lang="IN">(80.39%)</span>, <span lang="IN">followed by plantations (13.73%), and the community forest (5.88%), respectively.</span><span lang="IN">Most colonies nested in stone cavities, parts of the ho</span>us<span lang="IN">es, wooden materials, tree trunks, logs, tree roots, bamboo, and sometimes iron cavities.</span> The forage plants consist of forage plantation, crops, fruits, vegetables, ornamental flowers, wild plants and shrubs. The three species found were new record in West Halmahera. Bees lived in various hollow places that were safe for their colony. Bees made use of a variety of flowering plants and secrete resins around the nest site.

Diversity, Distribution, Nesting, and Foraging Behavior of Stingless Bees and Recent Meliponiculture in Indonesia

“…Tetragonula biroi was well known and first recorded in Papua islands, including the Indonesia Papuan [4], the recent distribution of the species was also recorded on Sulawesi Island by Indonesian researchers [16,18,19], and the first discovery of its presence in Halmahera island [28].…”

“…Wallacetrigona incisa was collected from Sulawesi [29], and it was found in South Sulawesi [19], and it was reported by [6] from Central Sulawesi and North Sulawesi. Rasmussen et al [9,30] informed that Lepidotrigona terminata and Tetragonula pagdeni were found in Sulawesi, and [19] reported their founding of the Stingless bee species distribution map in three tropical regions of Indonesia [7,19,24,28,32].…”

“…In Malaysia, stingless bee nests can mostly be found in rock crevices, underground cavities, and tree trunks or branches [37]. In Halmahera Island, it can be found in bamboo segments, logs, part of houses (part of roof, wall, and keyhole of the door), stone cavity, tree trunk, root of tree, foundation, wooden materials, furniture, electricity, iron cavity, and also over the land [28]. Stingless bees have distinct geographical distribution and nesting sites, inhabiting living and dead tree cavities, rock crevices, land, anthills, and termite nests [16].…”

“…Figure 1.Stingless bee species distribution map in three tropical regions of Indonesia[7,19,24,28,32].…”

Exploring the Functional Properties of Propolis, Geopropolis, and Cerumen, with a Special Emphasis on Their Antimicrobial Effects

“…This can lead to propolis and cerumen displaying considerable variations in their chemical compositions. Salatnaya et al [172] investigated forage plants for the stingless bees of the genus Tetragonula in west Halmahera, Indonesia, and revealed the utilization of seventy-seven distinct plant species for nectar, pollen, and occasional sources. Resins are necessary for nest construction by stingless bees.…”