Abstract

MACHADO, Cerilene Santiago  and  CARVALHO, Carlos Alfredo Lopes de. Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) on sunflower flowers in Recôncavo Baiano region, Brazil. Cienc. Rural [online]. 2006, vol.36, n.5, pp. 1404-1409. ISSN 0103-8478.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0103-84782006000500009.

Sunflower, Helianthus annuus L., is a cross-pollinating plant whose main pollinator are bees. This work was airmed at getting information about the diversity of visiting bee on sunflower inflorescence, by identifing the possible sunflower pollinators in Recôncavo Baiano region. The bees were collected on September-October of 2004, January-February and May-June of 2005 sunflowers hybrids (AG 920 and AG 930) cultivated in the entomology experimental area of Centro de Ciências Agrárias e Ambiental da Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil. Twenty six species were identified Apis mellifera (58.32%), Nannotrigona testaceicornis (18.53%) and Trigona spinipes (11.37%) were the most abundant species. The other species presented a frequency lower than relative 5%.

Keywords : Helianthus annuus; Apoidea; Apis mellifera; Nannotrigona testaceicornis.