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Pollen preferences of six stingless bee species in Kuala Berang, Terengganu, Malaysia

1
1 Syafiqah Hanapi, Shamsul Bahri Abd Razak *

¹Faculty of Fisheries and Food Science, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu,
21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.

*Corresponding author: shamsul@umt.edu.my

Abstract:

Pollen is one of the main sources of food for stingless bee species. Stingless bee (Meliponine) is a
eusocial insect that live in a perennial colony which consists of a queen, workers, and drones. The
purpose of this study is to identify flower preferences of six stingless bee species (Geniotrigona
thoracica, Heterotrigona itama, Lepidotrigona terminata, Tetragonula fuscobalteata, Tetragonula
minor, and Tetragonula testaceitarsis) with 12 months duration located in Taman Pertanian Sekayu,
Kuala Berang, Terengganu. A pollen calendar for the full 12 months had been successfully produced at
the end of this study. Pollen samples were collected from foragers’ corbicula without killing them once
a month. The pollens were then dispersed in distilled water, and observed under a compound microscope
to record pollen morphology. Microscopy observation showed the variation of pollen in terms of size
and shape that indicated the stingless bees foraged a variety of flowers in different months (from
October 2019 until September 2020). Two species (L. terminata and T. fuscobalteata) showed similar
preferences in flowers (Citrofortunella microcarpa) throughout the observation. Eighty plant species
were identified based on the database of pollen collected at the sampling site. While pollens preferred
by G. thoracica, H. itama, T. minor, and T. testaceitarsis were Terminalia catappa L., Sida rhombifolia,
Ardisia crispa, and Duranta erecta respectively. The identified plants had one similar characteristic
which was flowering all year round. This outcome could help beekeepers provide food sources for
stingless bees and be useful for the meliponiculture industry in Malaysia.

Keywords: Pollen, Relative abundance, Meliponiculture, Stingless bee, Beekeepers