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Melipona Bees in the Scientific World: Western Cultural Views

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Pot-Honey

Abstract

This work is an historical account of the scientific study of meliponas or stingless bees. The starting point is the invention of the microscope in the seventeenth century, which allowed scientists to begin certain detailed studies of bees and also the scientific expeditions in tropical regions. The stingless bees in different cultures, worldwide, are linked to humans through the consumption of honey and in myths and rituals. During this last century a rapprochement among the sciences, such as biology–ecology, zoology–archeology, and ethnology–medicine, allowed increasingly complex studies of these fascinating and important bees.

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Notes

  1. 1.

     British zoologists studied the notes of captain Beechey and published the book “Zoology of Beechey’s Voyage.” In 1891 the stingless bee, whose culture in hollow logs was developed by the Mayans, acquired the name Melipona beecheii Bennett, named in his honor.

  2. 2.

     In that time, continents were already separate and had a form similar to now, but they presented distinctive attributes, for example, the inner part of North America contained a sea which divided the continent, known as Cretaceous Seaway.

  3. 3.

    Italian entomologist, who founded, in 1928, the Institute of Entomology in the University of Bologna.

  4. 4.

    In 1944, he published a classification system for bees that would be soon adopted by melittologists, and was used until 1995, when he was the co-author of new classifications; again modernized for the world in 2000 and in a revised work, “The bees of the World,” in 2007.

  5. 5.

    Padre Moure’s catalogue consisted of handwritten cards; carbon copies can be found at the University of Kansas, where they were deposited by Padre Moure; 11,200 typed cards, which in large part relate to the family Halictidae (around 2,000 cards), were published as a catalogue in 1987 by Moure and Paul David Hurd (1921–1982), for the Smithsonian Institution. Recently, the part containing information about Colletidae (around 750 cards) was published in five articles in the Magazine of Zoology, reaching a total of 161 pages. Therefore, most of Padre Moure’s catalogue was unpublished until 2007 when the whole catalogue of bees in the Neotropical region was edited by Moure, Urban, and Melo.

  6. 6.

    German neurobiologist, who was a Zoology professor at Frankfurt University. As a scientist, he discovered communication among bees; their sense of orientation to find their way and live in a society.

  7. 7.

    First Secretary of the Special Secretariat for the Environment, Brazil.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Charles D. Michener for early comments on the manuscript, Professor Patricia Vit and Dr. Silvia R.M. Pedro for their attention and help with this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. History and Anthropology Area, Social Sciences and Human Studies Institute, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Mexico

    Raquel Barceló Quintal

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancón, Balboa, Republic of Panamá MRC 0580-12, Unit 9100, Box 0948, DPO AA, 34002-9998, USA

    David W. Roubik

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  1. Raquel Barceló Quintal
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Correspondence to Raquel Barceló Quintal .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zumba Sur, University of the Andes, Villa Del Rio 8, Merida, 5101, Venezuela

    Patricia Vit

  2. Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, Ribeirão Preto, 14040-901, São Paulo, Brazil

    Silvia R. M. Pedro

  3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Panama

    David Roubik

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Quintal, R.B., Roubik, D.W. (2013). Melipona Bees in the Scientific World: Western Cultural Views. In: Vit, P., Pedro, S., Roubik, D. (eds) Pot-Honey. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4960-7_17

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