Stingless Bees and Honey Bees of West Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the works on Sumatran bees from three research periods: between 1980-1987 on several locations in West Sumatra, 1990 at Kerinci Seblat National Park, and between 2019-2020 at some beekeepers in West Sumatra. In total, there were 27 stingless bee species, one stingless bee forma (Tetragonula minangkabau forma darek), and three honey bee species identified. Most of these stingless bee and honey bee species inhabit the Sumatran lowland primary forest. There were four patterns of species distribution observed in this study: rare species that were confined to primary forest, moderate or abundant species that were bound to primary forest, species that inhabited both primary and secondary forest, and species that adapt to disturbed areas. Apis andreniformis, A. dorsata, A. cerana indica, Heterotrigona itama, Sundatrigona moorei, Tetragonula fuscobaltealta, T. drescheri, T. laeviceps, and T. minangkabau were example of adaptive species.