DETERMINATION OF MINIMUM QUANTITY OF POLLEN AND NUTRITIVE-VALUE OF DIFFERENT CARBOHYDRATES FOR SCAPTOTRIGONA-DEPILIS MOURE (HYMENOPTERA, APIDAE)

Two experiments were performed to determine some aspects of nutrition in Scaptotrigona depilis. This minimum quantity of pollen necessary fo r suitable development of hypopharyngeal gland and oocytes was determi ned to be almost-equal-to 8.0 mg/bee/d. With respect to carbohydrates, no differences in longevity were found between groups fed sucrose (w/ v) at 10, 30 or 50%. With different carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose) no differences were detected between groups fed a ll carbohydrates at 1%; groups fed sucrose, maltose and glucose were s imilar to groups fed sucrose; the sucrose group was similar to the mal tose and glucose groups; the maltose and glucose groups were similar. For all carbohydrates, 10% concentration showed superior results to 1% concentration.