Foraging by stingless bees of the genus, Scaptotrigona (Apidae, Meliponinae)

The paper presents data on pollen and nectar foraging by Scaptotrigona bipunetata, S.depilis and S.postica in a disturbed community (the campus of Sao Paulo University, on the outskirts of Sao Paulo city), during a one-year period. Despite high local floral diversity, these bees exploited around 10 plant species and concentrated their pollen and nectar foraging on Eucalyptus flowers. On the other hand, they visited around 100 plant species altogether. This is a basic pattern presented by other stingless bees foraging in the area. But there are differences in exploiting major food sources, mainly between bee genera.