Pollen Spectrum of Honey from the Bee Melipona subnitida Ducke (1910) in Restinga in Maranhão State

Abstract

The study aimed to analyze the honey of Melipona subnitida to identify the plants visited by these bees in colonies installed in a restinga vegetation in Maranhão state. Honey was collected monthly from July/2017 to June/2018. The honey samples were submitted to the acetolysis method and the pollen grains were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The pollen analysis of honey resulted in 54 pollen types and 26 families. The largest pollen variety was registered in Fabaceae. Quantitative analyzes of pollen grains in honey samples revealed that three were monofloral, in July/2017 with Avicennia germinans honey and December/2017 and January/2018 with Copaifera martii honey. In the other months, the heterofloral honeys. Melipona subnitida proved to be general in food gathering. Knowing the flora used by M. subnita contributes to the meliponiculturists to improve the handling of the colonies, the increase and quality in the production of honey.

Keywords:
Delta do Parnaíba; Dunes; meliponiculture; mangrove; pollen spectrum