Visitação de orquídea por Melipona capixaba Moure & Camargo (Hymenoptera: Apidae), abelha ameaçada de extinção

Abstract

The stingless bee Melipona capixaba Moure & Camargo is a species restricted to the Atlantic forest in the Domingos Martins, Conceiçã o do Castelo, Venda Nova do Imigrante and Afonso Cláudio County, in the Espírito Santo State, Brazil. Despite its cological importance as pollinator few studies have examined the ecology and biology of this bee. This note relates a case of the M. capixaba workers carrying pollinarium attached to the scuttellum. The pollinaria were identified as belonging to the orchid subtribe Maxillariinae species possibly of the genus Maxillaria sensu lato or Xylobium.