Bees from an Island in the Delta of the Americas (Maranhão state, Brazil) and their Floristic Interactions

Abstract

Surveys of the bee fauna on islands are scarce due to the difficult access to the study area. Thus, the current study intended to establish the species of bees present in an island of the Delta of the Americas, called Grande do Paulino, Tutóia, Maranhão. Together with the bees, the plants visited by these insects were recorded, in order to document the relationships between these organisms. Between July 2017 and June 2018, once a month, 1,095 individuals, distributed in 16 tribes, 30 genera, and 48 species, were collected with active (entomological net) and passive (bowl traps) sampling methods. Data from plants and their visiting bees are presented in an interaction network in the form of a bipartite graph, showing Xylocopa cearensis as the most collected bee species, and Chamaecrista ramosa as the most visited plant by bees. In addition to providing information about the bee fauna of the state of Maranhão and, consequently, from the Brazilian northeast, this study explores the apifauna of a place never before explored and, because it is an island, of difficult access, also providing information about the floristic interactions of these insects.