Abstract

In the present work, bee foraging plants were determined by palynological analysis of colony stored samples (honey and pollen) of Apis dorsata collected from southern West Bengal, India. Then flowering phenology and pollen morphologies were described to evaluate the forage preference of the bee species. In addition, chemical cues were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Foraging strategy of the bee species was profitable in that almost all the bee-visited plants were utilised for both nectar and pollen sources. The bee species became generalist visitor of several plants having diverse life form, flower characters and pollen morphologies. However, most of the bee-visited plants were of trees with synchronous type of flowering. Most plants had small-sized, yellow, cream and white coloured flowers and pollen was openly presented. We did not find any patterns in the morphological traits of bee collected pollen, though the pollen types were predominantly of medium sized with trizonocolporate apertural pattern and reticulate surface ornamentation. Floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of bee visited plants were also diversified. Compounds frequently found in the floral VOC bouquets were amphetamine-3-methyl; butane, 2-cyclopropyl; 2,3-butanediol; cyclohexan, 1-methyl-5-(1-methylethyl); d-limonene; methyl (2E)-2-methoxy-2-butenoate; phenol, 4-[2-(methylamino)ethyl]; phthalic acid, di(2-propylpentyl)ester; propanamide, N-(aminocarbonyl) and pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-3-(2-methylpropyl). In conclusion, floral traits and chemical cues of plants influence the host selection specificity (to collect floral rewards) of the rock bees.

摘要

另外，在本工作中，蜂觅食植株进行的菌落存储的样本的分析孢粉（蜂蜜和花粉）测定蜜蜂dorsata采集自印度西孟加拉邦南部。然后描述开花物候和花粉形态以评估蜜蜂物种的草料偏好。此外，使用气相色谱-质谱 (GC-MS) 分析化学线索。蜜蜂物种的觅食策略是有利可图的，因为几乎所有蜜蜂访问的植物都用于花蜜和花粉来源。蜜蜂物种成为了几种具有不同生命形式、花朵特征和花粉形态的植物的通才。然而，大多数蜜蜂访问的植物是同步开花的树木。大多数植物有小尺寸、黄色、奶油色和白色的花朵，花粉是公开呈现的。我们在蜜蜂采集的花粉的形态特征中没有发现任何模式，虽然花粉类型主要是中等大小，具有trizonocolporate 孔图案和网状表面纹饰。蜜蜂访问植物的花卉挥发性有机化合物 (VOC) 也多样化。花束中常见的化合物是 3-甲基苯丙胺；丁烷，2-环丙基；2,3-丁二醇；环己，1-甲基-5-(1-甲基乙基)；d-柠檬烯；(2E)-2-甲氧基-2-丁烯酸甲酯；苯酚，4-[2-(甲氨基)乙基]；邻苯二甲酸，二（2-丙基戊基）酯；丙酰胺、N- (氨基羰基)和吡咯并[1,2-a]吡嗪-1,4-二酮、六氢-3-(2-甲基丙基)。总之，植物的花卉性状和化学线索会影响岩蜂的宿主选择特异性（以收集花卉奖励）。