Geopropolis: taxonomic dependence and compositional drawbacks

Abstract

The contents of total ashes and ethanol soluble substances were determined for propolis samples from species of two Meliponini genera: Melipona and Scaptotrigona. All Melipona samples corresponded to geopropolis (propolis containing aggregated soil material), with ash contents above 40%. Only one species of Scaptotrigona was shown to produce geopropolis, but with ash content (12%) much lower than Melipona samples. In Melipona a high negative correlation was observed between ash and ethanol solubles. Not only aggregated soil may contribute to lower the content of ethanol solubles. It is hypothesized that wax content may have a similar influence.