Bees (hymenoptera, apoidea) in an ecotonal Cerrado-Amazon region in Brazil

Abstract

Little is known about the composition of the bee community in the Cerrado-Amazon transition area. Herein, we present the results of a bee survey done within the municipality of Conceição do Araguaia, in the state of Pará. Six fragments were sampled twice (once in the dry season and once in the rainy season) using three methods of collecting: arboreal pitfalls with urine, scent traps, and pan traps. We recorded 67 bee species, distributed in 28 genera and eight tribes. Except for Partamona chapadicola, which is endemic to the Cerrado biome, the remaining species we sampled occur in the Amazonian Forest. Of those, 15 species are considered endemic to the Amazonian biome (four Euglossini, eight Meliponini, one Paratetrapedia, one Xylocopa and one Augochlorini), while 27 occur in forest and areas of Cerrado (seven Euglossini, fifteen Meliponini, two Paratetrapedia, one Xylocopa and two Augochlorini). Among 53 species sampled (disregarding the Euglossini species which were sampled almost exclusively with scent), 41 were captured with arboreal pitfall traps. Of those, 20 species were from the Meliponini tribe.