Indigenous bees created in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil

Abstract

This work aimed to perform a survey of the species of aboriginal bees without sting created by stingless bees keepers in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil, as well to do a study on its geographic distribution in the state. The research was directed to 104 stingless bees keepers in cities where it had greater concentration of creators of aboriginal bees in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil. The species of stingless bees of 104 stingless bees keepers distributed in 29 cities of the state had been investigated. It evidenced that the bee without sting M. subnitida, with 86% of frequency, is the stingless bees species with better geographic distribution in the Rio Grande do Norte state, predominating in all the visited keepers. The P. mosquito specie presented frequency of 4.9%. The presence of this species was not evidenced in all the studied areas, the same occurred with species M. asilvae with 4.3% of frequency, M. scutellaris with a frequency of 1.4%, and P. cupira, Frieseomelitta spp and F. varia, that together they had answered with frequency of 3.4% in all state. Keywords: Beekeeping of stingless bees, jandaíra, uruçu, mosquito, rajada.