Abstract
1. Stingless bees live in populous colonies that vary in size from a few
hundred individuals to tens of thousands, although information on actual
colony size is limited. Determining colony sizes using easily measurable
biological parameters are important steps to understanding their life
histories and ease their utilization and keeping. The objectives of this
study were to determine the colony size of five Amazonian stingless bee
species (Melipona flavolineata, Melipona fasciculata,
Scaptotrigona aff. postica, Frieseomelitta longipes
and Plebeia minima), and to identify biological parameters that
covary with colony size. 2. The number of brood cells, adult bees, and
food stocks were counted under laboratory conditions, alongside field
assessments of egg-laying rate and external activity of adult workers.
To identify covariates of colony size, the number of adult bees was
regressed against the number of brood cells, egg-laying rate, external
activity of adult workers, and food stocks, and the best Candidate
models were ranked using the Akaike Information Criterion. 3. Mean (±
s.d.) adult population sizes were: 1,046 ± 185 in M.
flavolineata; 593 ± 300 in M. fasciculata; 7,404 ± 1,391 in
S. aff. postica; 2,425 ± 1,000 in F. longipes; and
405 ± 254 in P. minima. We showed that the external activity is
the biological parameter, after the number of brood cells, that presents
the best relationship with the number of adult bees, which can be easily
evaluated in the field.