The orchid-bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of ‘Reserva Biológica de Una’, a hotspot in the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, eastern Brazil

A fauna de abelhas-das-orquídeas (Hymenoptera: Apidae) da ‘Reserva Biológica de Una’, um ‘hotspot’ na Mata Atlântica do sul da Bahia, leste do Brasil

The orchid-bee fauna of ‘Reserva Biológica de Una’ (REBIO Una), one of the largest Atlantic Forest remnants in southern Bahia, eastern Brazil, was surveyed for the first time. Baits with sixteen different scents were used to attract males of orchid bees. Eight hundred and fifty-nine males belonging to 26 species were actively collected with insect nets during 60 hours in January and February, 2009, and January, 2010. Euglossa avicula Dressler, 1982 and Euglossa milenae Bembé, 2007 have been recorded for the first time in the state of Bahia. It was found that REBIO Una has one of the most diverse and rich orchid-bee faunas of the entire Atlantic Forest domain and holds some rare species, such as Euglossa cyanochlora Moure, 1996.

Atlantic Forest; conservation; Euglossina; euglossine bees; Hexapoda