FALSE MINT FLOWERS AS A RESOURCE FOR AFRICANIZED BEES AND BUMBLEBEES

Authors

  • Michael dos Santos Maciel Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Eliane Creuza dos Santos Silva Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Edson Ferreira de Melo Júnior Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Luigly Pereira de Barros Correia Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Luís Henrique Pimentel de Araújo Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco
  • Marcelo de Oliveira Milfont Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

Keywords:

Honey bees, Bumblebees, Bee flora

Abstract

The false mint, (Rhaphiodon echinus Schauer) is a plant that belongs to the Lamiaceae family, perennial, that grows in the Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil. It’s an herbaceous specie that forms dense populations, showing potentiality for the use in landscaping, being eventually cultivated in cemetery graves. Rare are the registers of the use of its flowers by bees. Therefore, the goal was to evaluate the false mint flowers as a food resource for Africanized bees (Apis mellifera L.) and bumblebees (Xylocopa spp). The experiment was conducted in a 9 m2 area from the town of Garanhuns, Pernambuco. During a period of five days, from 7 a.m to 5 p.m every 10 minutes of each hour, were registered the number of Africanized bees and bumblebees visiting the flowers, as well as the resources collected (nectar and/or pollen). During the observation days, was verified that the visits at the flowers by the honey bees were very frequent, the first and rare happening around 7 a.m and intensifying from 8 a.m on. The peak of visits happened close to noon, ending at 5 p.m. The bumblebees showed a lower frequency of visits, starting at 10 a.m and ending at 2 p.m. The worker bees (A. mellifera) showed, apparently, typical behavior of collecting nectar, not being observed at any moment pollen in the corbicles. The conclusion in this work is that R. echinus Schauer is a plant of beekeeping importance in the region, being very visited by Africanized bees and bumblebees.

Published

2019-10-30

How to Cite

Maciel, M. dos S., Silva, E. C. dos S., Melo Júnior, E. F. de, Correia, L. P. de B., Araújo, L. H. P. de, & Milfont, M. de O. (2019). FALSE MINT FLOWERS AS A RESOURCE FOR AFRICANIZED BEES AND BUMBLEBEES. Caderno Verde De Agroecologia E Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 9(1), 20. Retrieved from https://gvaa.com.br/revista/index.php/CVADS/article/view/6928

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