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Vol. 51 No. 2, 2012
Collection of Pollen Grains by Centris (Hemisiella) tarsata Smith (Apidae: Centridini): Is C. tarsata an Oligolectic or Polylectic Species?
Lia Gonçalves1, Cláudia Inês da Silva2, and Maria Luisa Tunes Buschini1,*
1Departamento de Biologia, Univ. Estadual do Centro-Oeste, Rua Presidente Zacarias 875, CEP: 85010-990, Guarapuava (PR), Brasil
2Departamento de Biologia, Univ. de São Paulo,
Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras, Av. Bandeirantes, 3900,
14040-901, Ribeirão Preto-SP, Brasil. E-mail:claudiainess@gmail.com
Lia Gonçalves, Cláudia Inês da Silva , and Maria Luisa Tunes Buschini (2012)
Among pollinator species, bees play a prominent role in maintaining
biodiversity because they are responsible, on average, for 80% of
angiosperm pollination in tropical regions. The species richness of the
bee genus Centris is high in South America. In Brazil, these bees occur in many types of ecosystems. Centris tarsata
is an endemic species occurring only in Brazil. No previous studies
considered interactions between plants and this bee species in southern
Brazil, where it is the most abundant trap-nesting bee. Accordingly,
the goals of this study were to investigate plants used by this species
for its larval food supply and determine if this bee is polylectic or
oligolectic in this region. This work was conducted in the Parque
Municipal das Araucárias, Guarapuava (PR), southern Brazil, from Mar.
2002 to Dec. 2003. Samples of pollen were collected from nests of these
bees and from flowering plants in grassland and swamp areas where the
nests were built. All of the samples were treated with acetolysis to
obtain permanent slides. The family Solanaceae was visited most often
(71%). Solanum americanum Mill. (28.6%) and Sol. variabile Mart. (42.4%) were the primary pollen sources for C. tarsata in the study area. We found that although C. tarsata visited 20 species of plants, it preferred Solanum species with poricidal anthers and pollen grains with high protein levels. This selective behavior by females of C. tarsata indicates that these bees are oligolectic in their larval provisioning in this region of southern Brazil.
Key words: Centris (Hemisiella) tarsata, Solanum variabile, Solanum americanum, Provision of pollen grains.
*Correspondence: E-mail:liagoncalves22@hotmail.com; isatunes@yahoo.com.br
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