Morphometrics of Intraspecific Populations of Stingless Bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith from Southern Tamil Nadu

Authors

  • K. Balaji Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, TNAU, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • J Jayaraj Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, TNAU, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • M Shanthi Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Madurai, TNAU, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • S Vellaikumar Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Madurai, TNAU, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • C Rajamanickam Horticulture College and Research Institute, Periyakulam
  • N Chitra Department of Agricultural Entomology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Madurai, TNAU, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu
  • K Suresh Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, TNAU, Coimbatore 641003, Tamil Nadu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55446/IJE.2023.1651

Keywords:

Stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis, worker bees, morphometry, head length, hind leg length, forewing length, principal component analysis

Abstract

Stingless bees also referred to as meliponine bees and morphological characteristics of these differ depending on are the species and environmental kinds. The current study explores morphology and morphometrics of Tetragonula iridipennis Smith in Tamil Nadu, India. The morphometrics of worker bees were compared over locations. The bees captured in the Kolli hills were significantly larger than those collected elsewhere. The mean value of head length (HL) (1.43 mm), head width (HW) (1.68 mm), antennal length (AL) (1.98 mm), hind leg length (HLL) (3.54 mm) and forewing length (FL) (3.84 mm) were recorded. The results revealed variance of four principal components (PC) reaching 82.4%, as (PC1) 38.58%, (PC2) 20.95%, (PC 3) 19.75% and (PC4) 8.10%. The characters of FL, HW, FW (forewing width), HLL, AL, OOD (ocello ocular distance), HTW (hind tibial width) and HL were the most discriminative in the principal component analysis.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Downloads

Published

2023-10-03

How to Cite

Balaji, K., Jayaraj, J., Shanthi, M., Vellaikumar, S., Rajamanickam, C., Chitra, N., & Suresh, K. (2023). Morphometrics of Intraspecific Populations of Stingless Bee <i>Tetragonula iridipennis</i> Smith from Southern Tamil Nadu. Indian Journal of Entomology, 86(1), 172–175. https://doi.org/10.55446/IJE.2023.1651

Issue

Volume 86, Issue 1, March 2024

Section

Research Communications
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Danaraddi C S, Viraktamath S. 2009. Morphometrical studies on the stingless bee, Trigona iridipennis Smith. Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences 22: 796-797.

Danaraddi C S. 2007. Studies on stingless bee, Trigona iridipennis Smith with special reference to foraging behaviour and melissopalynology at Dharwad, Karnataka. M. Sc. Thesis. University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

Danaraddi C S. Hakkalappanavar S, Biradar S B, Tattimani M, Dandagi M R. 2012. Morphometrical studies on the stingless bee, Trigona iridipennis Smith. Asian Journal of Bio Science 7: 49-51.

Devanesan S, Nisha M M, Shallaja K K, Bennet R. 2003. Natural enemies of stingless bee Trigona iridipennis Smith in Kerala. Insect Environment 9: 30.

Efin A, Atmowidi T, Prawasti T S. 2019. Morphological characteristics and morphometric of stingless bee (Apidae: Hymenoptera) from Banten Province, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 1693-1698. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d200627

George C J. 1934. The bionomics, morphology and metamorphosis of Melipona irridipennis. Journal of the University of Bombay 2: 1-16.

Jobiraj T, Narendran T C. 2004. A revised key to the world species of Lisotrigona Moure (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apidae) with description of a new species from India. Entomon 29: 39-43.

Kuberappa G C, Mohite S, Kencharaddi R N. 2005. Biometrical variations among populations of stingless bee, Trigona iridipennis in Karnataka. Indian Bee Journal 67:145-149.

Mohan R, Devanesan S. 1999. Dammer Bees, Trigona iridipennis Smith (Apidae: Meliponinae) in Kerala. Insect Environment 5(2): 79.

Rahman A, Das P K, Rajkumari P, Saikia J, Sharmah D. 2015. Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) Diversity and Distribution in India. International Journal of Science and Research 4 (1): 77-81.

Rasmussen C. 2013. Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) of the Indian subcontinent: Diversity, taxonomy and current status of knowledge. Zootaxa 3647(3): 401. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3647.3.1

Sakagami S F. 1978. Tetragonula stingless bees of the continental Asia and Sri Lanka (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series VI, Zoology 21: 165-247.

Sharma V G, Jethva D M, Wadaskar P S, Kachot A V, Davaria P J.2023. Morphometric studies of stingless bees (Tetragonula iridipennis Smith) in Saurashtra region of Gujarat state. The Pharma Innovation Journal 12(5): 1582-1585.

Swaminathan T. 2000. Studies on stingless bees. M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.

Tej M K, Srinivasan M R, Vijayakumar K, Natarajan N, Kumar S M. 2017. Morphometry Analysis of stingless Bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith (1854). International Journal of Current Microbiology Applied Sciences 6(10): 2963-2970. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.610.350

Trianto M, Purwanto H. 2020. Morphological characteristics and morphometrics of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity 21:6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d210633

Vijayakumar K, Jeyaraaj R. 2014. Taxonomic notes on stingless bee Trigona (Tetragonula) iridipennis Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(11): 6480-6484. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3773.6480-4

Viraktamath S, Roy J. (2022). Description of five new species of Tetragonula (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) from India. Biologia 77(7): 1769-1793. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01040-8