Palynological Characterization of Stingless Bee Tetragonula iridipennis Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) Honey from Chotanagpur Plateau, Eastern India

Tetragonula iridipennis, belonging to the family Apidae under subfamily Apinae, are known as stingless bees as they do not have sting apparatus (Rasmussen, 2013; Muthuraman et al., 2013). They are also called dammar bees as they construct numerous elliptical cells for storing pollen and honey by using a special material called “cerumen” consisting of wax and resin (Muthuraman et al., 2013). Dammar bees show low level of social organisation as compared to that of true honey bees (Muthuraman et al., 2013). Their small size (2 to 16 mm) allows them to access many kinds of flowers whose openings are too narrow to permit their access (Heard, 1999). These small bees generally nest in permanent colonies in undisturbed and dark areas like hollows or crevices in old walls and logs (Gajanan, 2005; Wille, 1983). Their nest usually has a small cryptic entrance without any external entrance for further activity of the workers (Gloag et al., 2008). The stingless bees make less honey compared to honey bees and are widely distributed in diverse tropical regions of India (Vijayakumar et al., 2013; Vijayakumar & Jeyaraaj, 2016).