Tetragonisca angustula

Tetragonisca angustula
A Tetragonisca angustula bee guarding the nest-entrance.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Meliponini
Genus: Tetragonisca
Species: T. angustula
Binomial name
Tetragonisca angustula
(Latreille, 1811)

Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille 1811) is a small (4–5 mm worker body length [1]) neotropical stingless bee. T. angustula is a common species ranging from Veracruz in Mexico to Brazil [2]) and has many common names in different areas (e.g. “jataí”, “yatei”, “jaty”, “virginitas”, “angelitas” “ingleses”, “españolita”, “mariola”, virgencitas”). Because of its honey production, T. angustula is frequently kept in wooden hives by beekeepers. It is closely related to T. fiebrigi, which occurs in other parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.[2]

Nest founding and architecture

Mature colonies consist of a single queen and up to 10 000 worker bees.[3] Colonies are founded by swarming: a young queen and a small fraction of workers (5-10%) leaves the mother nest and moves to a new nest-site. These nest-sites are usually cavities in trees or walls of buildings. Before swarming, scout bees explore suitable cavities in the surroundings of the mother nest. The selected nest-site is cleaned and cerumen, a mixture of wax and resin, is flown in from the mother colony to close crevices and to build an entrance tube.[3] Additionally, small amounts of pollen and honey are transported from the mother colony. The main building material of a nest is cerumen.[4] The workers build several horizontal brood combs in the centre of the nest (see Foto). This brood chamber is surrounded by layers of cerumen, the involucrum. The involucrum helps maintain a constant climate in the brood chamber. Outside the brood chamber, storage pots contain honey and pollen.[4] Additionally, nests contain piles of resin at different locations. The cavity is connected to the outside via a wax entrance tube of ca. 2 cm length and 0.6 cm diameter.[5] This wax entrance tube is often closed during the night.[5]

Foraging and communication

Foragers mostly collect nectar, pollen and plant resin. Foraging activity levels are similar for pollen, nectar and resin foragers: highest activity levels were found around noon.[6] Foraging distances have been estimated to be below 600m, which is relatively short compared to larger bee species.[7] In many species of stingless bees foragers recruit nestmates to profitable food patches of pollen or nectar.[8] In T. angustula, however, this recruitment is weak.[9]

Stingless Hive Defense

T. angustula nests are susceptible to raids by other bees or wasps. Because these bees are stingless, they defend themselves by grasping and/or biting their attackers. As they grasp them, they release an alarm pheromone, which recruits other bees. Eventually the attacker is completely engulfed in a ball of stingless bees and dies from overheating. During raids, several of these balls can be seen on the ground near the hive.

Species of the genus

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tetragonisca angustula.
  1. ↑ van Zweden J.S., Grüter C., Jones S.M., and Ratnieks F.L.W. (2011). Hovering guards of the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula increase colony defensive perimeter as shown by intro- and inter-specific comparisons. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 65: 1277-1282.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Camargo, J. M. F. & Pedro, S. R. M. (2008). Meliponini Lepeletier, 1836. In: Moure, J. S., Urban, D. & Melo, G. A. R. (Orgs). Catalogue of Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) in the Neotropical Region - online version. Available at http://www.moure.cria.org.br/catalogue.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 van Veen J.W. and Sommeijer M.J. (2000). Colony reproduction in Tetragonisca angustula (Apidae, Meliponini). Insectes Sociaux 47: 70-75.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wille A. (1983). Biology of the stingless bees. Annual Review of Entomology 28: 41-64.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Grüter C., Kärcher M., and Ratnieks F.L.W. (2011). The natural history of nest defence in a stingless bee, Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with two distinct types of entrance guards. Neotropical Enomology 40: 55-61.
  6. ↑ De Bruijn L.L.M. and Sommeijer M.J. (1997). Colony foraging in different species of stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponinae) and the regulation of individual nectar foraging. Insectes Sociaux 44: 35-47.
  7. ↑ Araújo E.D., Costa M., Chaud-Netto J., and Fowler H.G. (2004). Body size and flight distance in stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini): Inference of flight range and possible ecological implications. Brazilian Journal of Biology 64: 563-568.
  8. ↑ Lindauer M. and Kerr W.E. (1960). Communication between the workers of stingless bees. Bee World 41: 29-71.
  9. ↑ Aguilar I., Fonseca A., and Biesmeijer J.C. (2005). Recruitment and communication of food source location in three species of stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini). Apidologie 36: 313-324.