Foraging behavior of stingless bees, Tetragonula laeviceps Smith in net house condition

Abstract

Studies on foraging behaviour of stingless bees, Tetragonula laeviceps Smith on muskmelon flowers in net house condition were carried out at Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during March 2013 to December 2014. The foraging behaviour of stingless bees with respect to number of outgoing foragers, incoming forager with pollen load and without pollen load recorded at hive entrance revealed that the maximum activity of outgoing foragers was recorded at 12 00 h (37.25 foragers 5 minutes-1). The maximum activity of incoming foragers with pollen load was recorded at 13 00 and 15 00 h (7.42 foragers 5 minutes-1) while that of foragers without pollen load was at 15 00 h (36.64 foragers 5 minutes-1).