Melipona garbage bees release their cargo according to a Gaussian distribution

• Autor(a) principal: KERR,A. S.
• Data de Publicação: 1999
• Outros Autores: KERR,W. E.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Biologia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-71081999000100015
• topic: stingless bees; Melipona scutellaris; Melipona compressipes; garbage bees; Gaussian Distribution; garbage release

Worker bees of Melipona compressipes and Melipona scutellaris (Meliponinae, Apidae) colonies, involved in carrying garbage to the outside of the nest, dump each individual load cargo of cocoon pellets (cocoon + larval feces + remaining wax). For Melipona scutellaris they weight a mean of 27.8 mg, and are dropped at a distance of 1 to 45 m and between 1 and 35 m for M. compressipes, according to a Gaussian Distribution. In the case of M. scutellaris the expression is: <img src="http:/img/fbpe/rbbio/v59n1/a15e1.gif"> where, N(x) = number of pellets; Exp = e elevated to the expression in brackets; x = distance in meters; the linear term (bx) describes accidental cargo slipping. The constants for the observed data are: b = 0.69; A = 1363; sigma = 2.16 m; <x> = 32.14 m. Evolutionary aspects of this method of disposal of garbage are discussed.