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Stingless bees are important pollinators and honey producing bees that belong to order Hymenoptera like honeybees and are reported from different parts with their higher diversity in northeastern region of the country. A survey was conducted in July 2023 in the mid-hills (Solan district) and higher hills (Shimla district) of Himachal Pradesh to know the presence and diversity of stingless bees in these areas. Specimens were collected with the help of nylon sweeping net and brought to the laboratory for further study. Different morphological and morphometrical parameters were studied for identification. The resource partitioning studies were also conducted on China rose flower where a large variety of pollinators was observed and abundance of different visitors was recorded. The Shannon-Weiner diversity index was also calculated for the region. The collected specimens of stingless bees were identified as of Tetragonula iridipennis, which is the first record of stingless bees from Himachal Pradesh. The other insect visitors recorded on China rose were bumble bees, Bombus haemorrhoidalis, syrphid flies, Episyrphus balteatus, Metasyrphus confrator, Megachile bees, Megachile dysjuncta, halictid bees, Lasioglossum sp, Apis dorsata, A cerana, houseflies, butterflies, Pieris brassicae, Ceratina sp and ants. The diversity index revealed the higher diversity of bees in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollination in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) was studied using stingless bees, Tetragonula iridipennis Smith and honey bee, Apis cerana F. Data on the resource partitioning revealed the foraging activity of pollinators. Pollination efficiency index was observed to be maximum with A. cerana (24) followed by T. iridipennis (14), and significantly maximum fruit set (81.66 and 78.97%) was obtained with their pollination. An increase of 87.48% in fruit set, 46.47% in healthy fruits and 275.23% in seed numbers was noticed, with longer (17.85 and 17.22 cm) and heavier (0.415 and 0.411 kg) fruits in the A. cerana and T. iridipennis pollinated plots. Maximum number of healthy fruits was achieved with bee pollination as compared to open pollination and control, and A. cerana showed more mortality as compared to T. iridipennis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nesting sites of two species of stingless bees were located in Medziphema and Punglwa village which fall under the Dimapur and Peren districts of Nagaland. The nest of Lophotrigona canifrons Smith is subterranean in nature constructed inside cavities below ground and that of Tetragonula iridipennis Smith is arboreal in nature constructed on tree trunks inside cavities. The length and width of the entrance tube of T. irridipennis measured 26mm in length, 22mm in width and the total length of the tube including the accessed tube that connected with the nest measured 70mm. The area of the honey in T. irridipennis was 80x60x50mm, with 112g stored honey and 0.72g individual honey pot. In the case of L. canifrons length of the entrance tube was 20 mm and width 15 mm for the underground nest-1 (UG-1); and for the UG-II, the length and width measured 10mm and 14mm respectively. The honey pots of L. canifrons were dark brown to black in colour just like that of pollen pots. For UG-I, the honey area was 100x65x59mm; with 127g honey and 0.78g single honey pot. Similarly, in UG-II the honey area was 70x62x55mm with 114g honey and 0.80g of a single honey pot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetragonula gressitti Sakagami is the new species of stingless bee discovered in Nagaland (2020). It was earlier found in Arunachal Pradesh (2013), South West China (2019) and Vietnam in 1978. The nest architecture of this particular species was never studied although there had been regular reports of its presence in forest areas by the local populace and all earlier reports were simply documented on the basis of collected samples from forests. This is the first detailed report on nesting characteristics of the stingless bee, T. gressitti, which were found located in the forest and village areas of Phek district in Nagaland during the early winters of 2019. The natural nests were found in tropical to sub-tropical evergreen forests on tree cavities, commonly at a height of 2.91 m ± 0.21 with a single entrance for each colony. The colonies were naturally active as seen and recorded from the activity of bees at their entrance gates during day time. The nests were extracted carefully with appropriate tools and transported to the experimental site. A total of seven natural nests were located for the study. Out of them, three nests were opened to observe the internal nest structure while the remaining nests were kept intact for further development and pollination studies. The observations revealed that the nest entrance on the external region was free from any wax or cerumen funnel/ tube and was meticulously kept clean by the bees. The nest entrances of all the colonies varied in size and shape. Internally, the entrance was connected to the brood through a waxy passage of 11.42 cm ± 0.73 length till it reached the involucrum. The brood was covered in a partial involucrum of 2.15 cm ± 0.23 thickness. The honey pots and pollen pots were found separated from the brood area and were connected through numerous small openings in the involucrum. The adult bees were observed to be deep black in colour. The required data on size of different cells and castes were also recorded accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, pollination in water melon with stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith, open pollination and control (pollinator’s exclusion) have been evaluated. Comparative pollination index worked out using foraging parameters, and fruit production and quality parameters was used. Data revealed that T. iridipennis bee pollination resulted in heavier fruits (3.428 kg) with bigger size (26.39 cm) as compared to control (0.583 kg), and open pollination treatments (2.996 kg). Fruit set (89.75%) and healthy fruits (81.62%) were more in stingless bee pollination than other modes. Significantly less fruit set (39.57%) was observed without pollination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]