Daily activity patterns of visits by males of four species of Eulaema (Apidae: Euglossina) to odor baits in a tropical forest fragment in Bahia, Brasil

Abstract

Several studies have been conducted with bees of the subtribe Euglossina using odor baits as attractants. The objective of this study was to analyze the daily activity pattern of visits by males of four species of Eulaema - Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier, 1841, Eulaema flavescens (Friese, 1899), Eulaema cingulata (Fabricius, 1804) and Eulaema bombiformis (Packard, 1869) - to vanillin and benzyl acetate baits, and their relationship with climatic and environmental factors throughout the day in different months of the year in a tropical forest fragment in Bahia. Eulaema nigrita was the most frequent species on vanillin baits and E. flavescens was the most frequent species on benzyl acetate baits. The highest frequency of visits was observed in February and December. Activities started between 5:00 and 9:00 h. In February and November, visits of E. nigrita to the bait were observed daily, following a bimodal pattern. The same activity pattern was observed for E. bombiformis in December. Males of four species of Eulaema occurred in all remaining months in a unimodal daily activity pattern, with a higher frequency before 9:30 h. The correlation between the visiting activity to odor baits and climatic factors was low. This result can be due to bee flight activity occurring within a range of adequate climatic variation, particularly temperature, which in our study ranged from 23 to 32ºC. Daily activity patterns of Euglossina males on odor baits can represent patterns of flower fragrance collection under natural conditions, with visits usually at the time of highest production.