 |
Distribution
|
Angola, Cameroun, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South
Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. |
Biology
|
Deep in the jungle of Gabon, male stingless sweat bees,
Meliponula ferruginea,
enter the throes of a mating dance.
A sunlit leaf in a rainforest clearing is used to stage their
elaborate circular performance. Lekking behaviour, a strategy where
males aggregate to increase their chance of attracting females, is
prevalent across a wide spectrum of organisms.
|
References
|
Eardley, C.D. 2004. Taxonomic revision of the African stingless bees (Apoidea: Apidae: Apinae:
Meliponini). African Plant Protection 10: 63–96.
Eardley, C & Urban, R. 2010. Catalogue
of Afrotropical bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes).
Zootaxa 2455: 1-548.
Eardley, C, Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp.
279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World:
an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture
Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.
Michener, C.D. 2000. The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins
University Press. 953 pp. |
Credits
|
Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)
|
|
