Diversity of flower visitng bees of Eugenia uniflora L. (Myrtaceae) in fragments of Atlantc Forest in South Brazil

Abstract

Eugenia uniflora L. (Myrtaceae) is pollinated mostly by bees and there are no restrictons for pollen collecton in their flowers. This stmulated us to study the bee diversity on its flowers in two forest fragments in southern Brazil, in August and September, 2012. A total of 826 bees belonging to 39 species and four subfamilies were captured with entomological nets. Halictnae presented the greatest richness, followed by Apinae, Colletnae and Andreninae. Apis mellifera was the only common species and the most abundant, followed by Scaptotrigona bipunctata and Melipona obscurior. Seven species were classified as intermediate and 31 as rare. Highest numbers of bees were collected from 10 to 11:30 h. The species richness of flower visitng bees was much higher than that of previous studies with first records of Plebeia remota and Anthrenoides paolae. Eugenia uniflora is a food source for exotc and natve bees and possibly contributes to the conservaton of these bees in forest fragments. In return, the bees probably act in maintaining this plant natve of the Atlantc Forest.