Oxytrigona mellicolor (Packard, 1869)
Common Names: "miel-de-candela", "candelita", "abeja-de-fuego", "suerre"
Trigona mellicolor
Packard, A. S., Jr. (1869). List of hymenopterous and lepidopterous insects collected by the Smithsonian expedition to South America, under Prof. James Orton. Ann. Rept. Trustees Peabody Acad. Sci. 1: 56-59 [56] .
Type data: holotype MCZ 559 <F> worker , paratype MCZ 8857 <F> worker (1).
Type locality: Quito & Napo river, Ecuador [between Quito and Napo, according to Schwarz, 1948:485].
Remarks
Oxytrigona mellicolor (Packard) is interpreted in the sense of Schwarz, 1948: 483, including specimens from western Ecuador - Esmeraldas to Honduras. However, the type, as indicated in the label, is from eastern Andes (mislabeled?).
Distribution
Neotropical Region: Colombia (Antioquia, Bolívar, Caldas, Chocó, Cundinamarca, César, Nariño, Tolima), Costa Rica (Alajuela, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limón, Puntarenas, San José), Ecuador (Esmeraldas, Loja, Napo), Honduras (Atlántida, Yoro), Nicaragua (Chontales), Panama (Chiriquí, Colón, San Blas), Venezuela (Portuguesa)
References
Arce, H. (1994). Stingless beekeeping in Costa Rica: technical and cultural aspects. Pegone autumn: 6-8 [7] (? uncertain identity, as Trigona tataira, folk name: "peladora", beekeeping)
Bernal, R. & Ervik, F. (1996). Floral biology and pollination of the dioecious palm Phytelephas seemannii in Colombia: an adaptation to staphylinid beetles. Biotropica 28 (4b): 682-696 [690, 692] (? uncertain identity, as Oxytrigona tataira, geographic record, flower record: Phytelephas seemannii (Palmae), figure)
Biesmeijer, J. C. & Slaa, E. J. (2004). Information flow and organization of stingless bee foraging. Apidologie 35: 143-157 [148] (aggressive foraging behavior, citation)
Biesmeijer, K. (1999). Traits of stingless bees: 5 nests entrances. Pegone summer: 9-11 [9] (nest entrance, nesting site: tree, nest defense behavior)
Breed, M. D., Guzmán-Novoa, E. & Hunt, G. J. (2004). Defensive behavior of honey bees: organization, genetics, and comparisons with other bees. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 49: 271-298 [275] (behavior, defense mechanisms, cephalic glands, caustic secretion, citation)
Camargo, J. M. F. (1984). Notas sobre o gênero Oxytrigona (Meliponinae, Apidae, Hymenoptera). Bol. Mus. Para. Emílio Goeldi, sér. Zool. 1 (1): 115-124 [121] (as Oxytrigona tataira mellicolor, taxonomic note)
Camargo, J. M. F. (1988). Meliponinae (Hymenoptera, Apidae) da coleção do "Istituto di Entomologia Agraria", Portici, Itália. Rev. Bras. Entomol. 32 (3/4): 351–374 [357] (as Oxytrigona tataira mellicolor, geographic record)
Cockerell, T. D. A (1907). Some bees in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Univ. Colo. Stud. 5(1): 35-39 [36] (as Trigona mellicolor, notes on type, comparative notes)
Cockerell, T. D. A (1917). New social bees. Psyche 24: 120-128 [124, 125] (as Trigona mellicolor, comparative note, geographic record, taxonomic note)
Cockerell, T. D. A. (1922). Bees in the collection of the United States National Museum. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 60 (18): 1-20 [8] (? uncertain identity, as Trigona mellicolor, geographic record [Lagunita de Areia [sic ?], Venezuela], altitudinal record)
Dalla Torre C. G. de (1896). Catalogus Hymenopterorum; Hucusque Descriptorum Systematicus et Synonymicus. Leipzig: Engelmann Vol. 10 viii+1–643 pp. [581] (as Melipona mellicolor, list)
Gonzalez, V. H. & Roubik, D. W. (2008). Especies nuevas y filogenia de las abejas de fuego, Oxytrigona (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Meliponini). Acta Zool. Mex. (n.s.) 24 (1): 43-71 [53,54, 55,56, 58,59, 60,61-65, 66, 68] (? uncertain identity, comparative notes, synonymy, diagnosis, worker redescription [not of the type], male, queen description, geographic records, geographic range, phylogeny, taxonomic characters, nesting site: hollow tree, citation, flower records: Mimosa, key, figures: worker, male)
Griswold, T., Parker, F. D. & Hanson, P. E. (1995). The bees (Apidae) pp. 650-691 in Hanson, P. E. & Gauld, I. D. (ed.) The Hymenoptera of Costa Rica. London: Natural History Museum 893 pp. [684, 685, 690] (nesting site: tree, nest characteristics, list)
Lutz, F. E. (1924). Some characters of American Meliponidae pp. 202-232 in Lutz, F. E. Apparently non-selective characters and combinations of characters, including a study of ultraviolet in relation to the flower visiting habits of insects. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 29: 181–283 [205, 208, 216, 220] (as Trigona mellicolor, taxonomic characters, mouthparts, tibia)
Lutz, F. E. & Cockerell, T. D. A (1920). Notes on distribution and bibliography of North American bees of the families Apidae, Meliponidae, Bombidae, Euglossidae, and Anthophoridae. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 42: 491-641 [499] (as Trigona mellicolor, geographic record, citation)
Michener, C. D. (1954). Bees of Panamá. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 104 (1): 5-175 [168] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira mellicolor, synonymy, geographic record)
Michener, C. D. (1974). The social behavior of the bees. Cambridge: Belknap Press, Harvard University Press 404+xii pp. [214, 340] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira, figure: comb, caustic secretion, lesion)
Michener, C. D. (1990). Classification of the Apidae (Hymenoptera). Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 54 (4): 75-164 [95, 105] (figures: sting, propodeum)
Michener, C. D. & Roubik, D. W. (1993). Observations on the labium of meliponine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) pp. 251-265 in Inoue, T. & Yamane, S. (ed.) Evolution of insect societies: Comparative sociology of bees, wasps and ants. Tokyo: Hakuhin-sha Publishing Co. [258] (morphology, labium)
Nates-Parra, G. (2001). Las abejas sin aguijón (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) de Colombia. Biota Colombiana 2 (3): 233-248 [239, 245] (geographic range, geographic records, altitudinal range, citation)
Nieh, J. C. (2004). Recruitment communication in stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini). Apidologie 35: 159-182 [165] (visual communication, citation)
Pereboom, J. J. M. & Biesmeijer, J. C. (2003). Thermal constraints for stingless bee foragers: the importance of body size and coloration. Oecologia (Berl.) 137: 42-50 [43, 44, 45, 46] (body size, body color, thermal characteristics, phylogeny, citation)
Rinderer, T. E., Blum, M. S., Fales, H. M., Bian, Z., Jones, T. H., Buco, S. M., Lancaster, V. A., Danka, R. G. & Howard, D. F. (1988). Nest plundering allomones of the fire bee Trigona (Oxytrigona) mellicolor. J. Chem. Ecol. 14 (2): 495-501 [494-501] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) mellicolor, biochemistry, mandibular gland secretion composition, allomones, behavior, pillage)
Roubik, D. W. (1983). Nest and colony characteristics of stingless bees from Panamá (Hymenoptera: Apidae). J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 53 (6): 327-355 [328, 330, 332, 337, 346-347] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) mellicolor, taxonomic note, nesting site: tree cavity, geographic record, nest characteristics, nest population)
Roubik, D. W. (1992). Stingless Bees: A guide to Panamanian and Mesoamerican species and their nests (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponinae) pp. 495-524 in Quintero, D. & A. Aiello (ed.) Insects of Panama and Mesoamerica. Selected Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press 692 pp. [499, 501, 509, 514, 518, 523] (as key, figures: hind tibia, head, geographic range, diagnosis, nesting site: living tree, folk name: "miel de candela", "candelita", aggressive behavior)
Roubik, D. W. (1993). Direct costs of forest reproduction, bee-cycling and the efficiency of pollination modes. Journal of Biosciences 18 (4): 537-553 [549] (habitat, geographic range)
Roubik, D. W. (1993). Tropical pollinators in the canopy and understory: field data and theory for stratum "preferences". J. Insect Behav. 6 (6): 659-673 [665] (habitat, stratum)
Roubik, D. W. & Moreno, J. E. (1990). Social bees and palm trees: what do pollen diets tell us? pp. 427-428 in Veeresh, G. K., Mallik, B. & Viraktamath, C. A. (ed.) Social insects and the environment: proceedings of the 11th international congress of IUSSI, Bangalore, India. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. xxxi+765 pp. [427, 428] (foraging, pollen records: Tetrapteris (Malpighiaceae), Gustavia (Lecytidaceae), Palmae)
Roubik, D. W., Smith, B. H. & Carlson, R. G. (1987). Formic acid in caustic cephalic secretions of stingless bee, Oxytrigona (Hymenoptera: Apidae). J. Chem. Ecol. 13 (5): 1079-1086 [1079-1086] (geographic record, mandibular glands, defensive secretion, composition, formic acid)
Roubik, D. W. & Wolda, H. (2000). Male and female bee dynamics in a lowland tropical forest pp. 167-174 in International Bee Research Association (ed.) Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Apiculture in Tropical Climates. Cardiff: IBRA [168, 169] (geographic record, light trap, seasonality, relative abundance)
Schwarz, H. F. (1948). Stingless bees (Meliponidae) of the Western Hemisphere. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 90: xvii+546 [22, 116, 117, 468, 470, 471, 481, 483-485, 486] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira mellicolor, nest characteristics, behavior, caustic secretion, citation, hamuli, figure: male, key, taxonomic notes, comparative notes, synonymy, diagnosis, description: worker, male [?, Panama], notes on type, taxonomy, geographic records, geographic range)
Slaa, E. J., J. Wassenberg & J. C. Biesmeijer (2003). The use of field-based social information in eusocial foragers: local enhancement among nestmates and heterospecifics in stingless bees. Ecol. Entomol. 28: 369-379 [370, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 376, 377] (geographic record, behavior, communication, recruitment, nest population, foraging strategy, scent trail)
Slaa, E. J., Tack, A. J. M. & Sommeijer, M. J. (2003). The effect of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on flower constancy in stingless bees. Apidologie 34: 457-468 [457-468] (geographic record, foraging behavior, flower constancy, artificial flower patch, color, shape, odor, sugar concentration, recruitment, nest population)
Smith-Pardo, A. H. (2003). A preliminary account of the bees of Colombia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): present knowledge and future directions. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 76 (2): 335-341 [338] (list)
Waddington, K. D., Herbst, L. H. & Roubik, D. W. (1986). Relationship between recruitment systems of stingless bees and whitin-nest worker size variation. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 59 (1): 95-102 [97] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) mellicolor, morphometrics, communication, recruitment)
Wille, A. (1961). Evolutionary trends in the ventral nerve cord of stingless bees (Meliponini). Revista de Biologia Tropical 9 (1): 117-129 [117, 121] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira mellicolor and Trigona tataira, morphology, ventral nerve cord)
Wille, A. (1961). Las abejas jicotes de Costa Rica. Revista de la Universidad de Costa Rica 22: 1-30 [17, 25] (as Trigona tataira, comb, folk name: "abeja de fuego", "suerre", defense behavior, caustic mandibular secretion)
Wille, A. (1983). Biology of the stingless bees. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 28: 41-64 [46, 47, 49, 60, 62] (as Trigona tataira mellicolor, and Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira, honey characteristics, behavior, defense mechanisms, alarm pheromone, comb, figure: nest)
Wille, A. & C. D. Michener (1973). The nest architecture of stingless bees with special reference to those of Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 21 (Suplemento 1): 1-278 [13, 23, 34, 47, 58, 69, 174-177, 178-179, 265] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira mellicolor, nesting site: tree cavities: Ochroma velutina, geographic records, habitat, nest characteristics, nest entrance, honey characteristics, figures: nest, comb)
Wille, A., Orozco, E. & Raabe, C. (1983). Polinización del chayote Sechium edule (Jacq.) Swartz en Costa Rica. Revista de Biologia Tropical 31 (1): 145-154 [146] (as Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira mellicolor, pollination: Sechium edule (Cucurbitaceae))
Online since: 23 Jul 2008
Last update : 17 Jul 2023