Diapause in Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Extreme environmental conditions may negatively affect the development of animals. Insects show a wide range of adaptive behaviors that have allowed them to respond successfully to adverse climatic conditions by temporarily interrupting some of their activities or development. One such behavior is diapause. Diapause can be defined as a gradual and progressive interruption in development or ontogeny of an organism in any phase of its lifecycle in order to survive cyclic unfavorable environmental conditions. This review presents an overview of the current knowledge of diapause in stingless bees and describes the various studies on this subject. It focuses on Plebeia species, the most studied genus in this regard. In this group of bees, provisioning and oviposition behavior ceases in autumn/winter, a so-called reproductive diapause. Besides the cessation of brood-rearing activity, other behaviors, such as foraging, are also modified. The mechanisms that induce the reproductive diapause are still unclear, but evidence points to temperature and photoperiodism as the main drivers of this behavior.