Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Da-Costa, Tairis
• dos Santos, Charles Fernando
• Rodighero, Luana Fabrina
• Ferla, Noeli Juarez
• Blochtein, Betina

Titel

Mite diversity is determined by the stingless bee host species

Ist Teil von

• Apidologie, 2021-10, Vol.52 (5), p.950-959

Ort / Verlag

Paris: Springer Paris

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Mites can establish ecologically mutualistic and/or commensal relationships with stingless bees. In the present study, we evaluated the acarine diversity associated with colonies of three stingless bee species ( Melipona quadrifasciata quadrifasciata , Scaptotrigona bipunctata and Tetragonisca fiebrigi ) in seven localities of southern Brazil. A total of 1458 mites from 18 species/morphospecies were sampled. The colonies of Melipona q. quadrifasciata showed the highest richness of mites, but T. fiebrigi was the bee species with the highest acari diversity among the evaluated species. This information suggests a close relationship between mites and stingless bees, which has direct implications for the transport of hives and non-naturally occurring species to different regions.