Diversity in bee (Hymenoptera: apoidea) and social wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae) community in "Campos Rupestres", Bahia, Brazil

Hymenoptera such as bees and social wasps are regular floral visitors in "campos rupestres" vegetation. A community of bees and social wasps was studied during floral visitation in an area of "campos rupestres", at Chapada Diamantina, BA, Brazil, from September 2001 to April 2002. The community was described in relation to diversity, evenness, and dominance rank, considering the individuals abundance (H' = 2.14/ J' = 0.55) and biomass (H' = 2.34/ J' = 0.60). Thirty nine bee (588 individuals/ 15.742 g) and 11 social wasp species (52 individuals/ 2.156 g) were collected, being the first report of social wasps for the Brazilian "campos rupestres". The main species regarding number of individuals were Trigona spinipes (Fabricius), Apis mellifera L., Frieseomelitta francoi (Moure), and Bombus brevivillus Franklin. About 48% of the species were represented by a single individual. There was an inversion in the dominance rank when the species biomass was considered. B. brevivillus, A. mellifera, T. spinipes, and other species represented by 15 individuals or less, such as the social wasps Synoeca cyanea (Olivier), Polistes canadensis (L.) and Myschocyttarus drewseni (Saussure), and the bees Eufriesea nigrohirta (Friese), Xylocopa grisescens Lepeletier and Megachile (Pseudocentron) sp.1 were the predominant species. The use of biomass in diversity analysis permitted to detect differences in the relative contribution of species in hierarchy dominance. The comparison between bee faunas from different areas indicates a large similarity of the sampled fauna in Palmeiras (Bahia State) with neighboring ecosystems, although with low values of similarity. Himenópteros como abelhas e vespas sociais são visitantes florais regulares em ambientes de campos rupestres. Uma comunidade de abelhas e vespas sociais foi acompanhada durante visitação floral em área de campos rupestres, na Chapada Diamantina, BA, de setembro de 2001 a abril de 2002. A comunidade foi descrita quanto à diversidade, eqüitabilidade e hierarquia de dominância, considerando a abundância de indivíduos (H' = 2.14 / J' = 0.55) e biomassa (H' = 2.34/ J' = 0.60) das espécies. Foram amostradas 39 espécies de abelhas (588 indivíduos/ 15,742 g) e 11 espécies de vespas sociais (52 indivíduos/ 2,156 g), sendo este provavelmente o primeiro registro de vespas sociais para ambientes de campos rupestres no Brasil. Trigona spinipes (Fabricius), Apis mellifera L., Frieseomelitta francoi (Moure) e Bombus brevivillus Franklin