Abstract

MORALES-ACOSTA, Sara; MONDINO, Raquel; TORRES-MOSTACEDO, J. Aylin  and  ADLER, Marcia. Intraspecific and Interspecific kinship recognition in Scaptotrigona aff. postica (APIDAE: MELIPONINI). Rev. Cien. Tec. In. [online]. 2024, vol.22, n.29, pp.1-8. ISSN 2225-8787.  https://doi.org/10.56469/rcti.v22i29.949.

Stingless bees are of great importance in the Central- and South American region for their diversity, pollination potential and honey production. They are eusocial bees organized in castes where each colony has a single queen. We ask whether they can recognize and discriminate between members of the same hive, related hives and other species. In this work, kinship recognition among stingless bees was measured based on the number of negative interactions they have with each other over time and using an Aggressivity Index. For this, one guardian of Scaptotrigona aff. postica were confronted with a guardian of the same hive, of a related hive, of an unrelated hive and with an individual of another species (Tetragonisca fiebrigi) to record their behaviors over time and define whether their interactions are friendly or aggressive. It was found that, with members of unrelated hives and different species, S. aff. postica have many more aggressive interactions than with members of the same hive or related hives. This tells us that bees S. aff. postica can potentially recognize members to whom they are related.

Keywords : Stingless bees; Animal behavior; Aggressivity.

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