Associação entre fungos e abelhas-sem-ferrão do semiárido de Pernambuco

Abstract

Throughout the evolution of species, insects and fungi have developed important mutualistic interactions, in which both benefit. An interesting example is the bee of the genus Scaptotrigona spp. (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Meliponini), in which a species of fungus Zygosaccharomycessp. develop and produce important metabolites for the growth of immatures, being essential for the insect to complete its life cycle. In this context, the objective was to investigate the presence of filamentous fungi, associated with larval food, in brood cells with larvae at different stages of development in colonies of Scaptotrigona sp. tubiba group, in Caatinga areas of the state of Pernambuco. The collections were carried out in five colonies in 10 brood cells, being numbered from 1 to 10, in which 1 to 5 were collected in cells with developing larvae, from 6 to 7 only with larval food and egg and from 8 to 10 developed larvae. The samples were solubilized in sterile water and seeded on three culture media for isolation Sabouraud Agar (SAB), Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and Potato Dextrose Agar with an additional 15% of glucose (15% PDA). After five days of incubation at 28 ºC, 19 isolates were selected based on morphotypes. Amongst these, 3 were identified at the genus level, being a Fusarium, a Cladosporium and an Arcopilus, which was submitted to macro and micromorphological characterization for presenting characteristics similar to a species described in the literature. Subsequently, the growth capacity of Arcopilus sp. in four different conditions: pure larval feed, larval feed plus distilled water (1:1; v/v), Sabouraud broth and distilled water plus 1% glucose in wells of ELIZA plates. The greatest growth was observed in wells that were seeded with larval feed diluted in distilled water. The presence of Monascus sp. in larval food samples of Scaptotrigona sp. studied. The other isolates were stored for later identification of the species and it is expected that these fungi may actually be essential in the bee nests of this species.