Palynology of stingless bee, Tetragonula laeviceps (Hymenoptera: Meliponinae)

Stingless bee is one of important flowering plant pollinator and knowing information about plants utilized as a source of food and preferable plant species will ensure the sustainability of stingless bee species. In this study, pollen analyses were performed on honey, beebread and pollen from forager bees in Stingless Bee Park, Agropark Universiti Malaysia Kelantan to identify and determine plant resources forage by Tetragonula laeviceps as well as to determine the pollen abundance collected. Samples of honey, beebread and pollen from forager bees of T. laeviceps were collected for three months from September to November 2015 consecutively. All
samples were observed under 100x magnifications using compound microscope with camera, Leica DM 750 then pollen observed was compared with reference pollen atlas. Based on the result obtained, 71 pollen types representing 45 families were identified exclude six unidentified pollen types and the most frequent pollen types belong to Fabaceae and Palmae family and the most significant pollen type collected by T. laeviceps was Mimosa pudica. The peak time foraging activity of T.laeviceps was from 0900 to 1100 hours. Availibility of plants, flowers characteristics, forager activity time and environmental factor influence the preference of pollen of T. laeviceps. All the samples from this study were categorized as multifloral. In conclusion, palynological studies help to identify the pollen sources of T. laeviceps.