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Type: Article
Published: 2019-12-09
Page range: 349–365
Abstract views: 138
PDF downloaded: 9

Stingless bees of the genus Nannotrigona Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in Colombia

Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Abejas. Departamento de Biología Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santa Fé de Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.
Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Abejas. Departamento de Biología Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santa Fé de Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.
Undergraduate Biology Program and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Haworth Hall, 1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Uni­versity of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.
Hymenoptera Anthophila Apoidea diversity meliponiculture taxonomy

Abstract

Nannotrigona Cockerell is one of the few stingless bee genera widely distributed and commonly encountered throughout the Neotropical region. Some species are abundant and managed in meliponiculture. However, the identity and number of species occurring in some countries or areas is almost entirely unknown. Herein we reviewed the species of Nannotrigona in Colombia, a South American country with literature records indicating the presence of either one or five species of this genus. Appraisal of museum specimens revealed the existence of the following eight species, three of which we describe as new: N. camargoi Rasmussen & Gonzalez, N. gaboi n. sp., N. melanocera (Schwarz), N. mellaria (Smith), N. occidentalis n. sp., N. pilosa n. sp., N. schultzei (Friese), and N. tristella (Cockerell).We describe and figure the male of N. camargoi, N. gaboi, N. melanocera, and N. pilosa. In addition, we provide comparative diagnoses, a key to species, and new geographical records.

 

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