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Characterization of Pot-Pollen from Southern Venezuela

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Pot-Pollen in Stingless Bee Melittology

Abstract

Melipona colonies frequently nest in tree cavities in southern Venezuela, and traditional stingless beekeeping employs log hives. Pot-pollen was collected from 13 stingless bee colonies in Amazonas, Apure, Barinas, and Bolívar states of southern Venezuela. The botanical origin was studied by palynology. Ash, carbohydrates, fat, moisture, and proteins were the proximal analysis measured in pot-pollen produced by Melipona compressipes, Melipona eburnea, Melipona favosa, Melipona sp. fulva group, Melipona lateralis kangarumensis, Melipona paraensis, and Frieseomelitta sp. aff. varia. Bioactive components (flavonoids, polyphenols) and antioxidant activity were determined from ethanolic extracts. Major flavonoids were screened by HPLC-UV.

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Acknowledgments

To the memory of Professor João MF Camargo, Biology Department, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, for the identification of the Venezuelan stingless bees. Special thanks to stingless beekeepers from southern Venezuela for their role as guardians of the tradition and facilitating the collection of pot-pollen. To project FA-127-93B from the Council for the Scientific, Humanistic, and Technological Development at Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela, for supporting field work needed to collect the pot-pollen in Venezuela; to the scholarship ULA-BID-CONICIT to PV, two stages at Universitá di Perugia, Italy, to study melissopalynology and two stages at CEBAS-CSIC, Murcia, Spain, to study flavonoids with Professor F.A. Tomás-Barberán and Professor F. Ferreres; to the support of ZG-AVA-FA-01-98-01 from the Council of Scientific, Humanistic, Technological, and Artistic Development at Universidad de Los Andes, to the Group Apitherapy and Bioactivity; to referees for their appreciated comments; and to Dr. D.W. Roubik for careful English editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Apitherapy and Bioactivity, Food Science Department, Faculty of Pharmacy and Bioanalysis, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, 5101, Venezuela

    Patricia Vit

  2. Cancer Research Group, Discipline of Biomedical Science, Cumberland Campus C42, The University of Sydney, 75 East Street, Lidcombe, NSW, 1825, Australia

    Patricia Vit

  3. Universitá degli Studi, Perugia, Italy

    Giancarlo Ricciardelli D’Albore

  4. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Brazil

    Ortrud Monika Barth

  5. Laboratory of Palynology, Department of Geology, Institute of Geosciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Ortrud Monika Barth

  6. Laboratory of Biotechnological and Molecular Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy and Bioanalysis, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, 5101, Venezuela

    María Peña-Vera & Elizabeth Pérez-Pérez

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Correspondence to Patricia Vit .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Food Science Department, Faculty of Pharmacy and Bioanalysis, Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela

    Patricia Vit

  2. Biology Department, School of Philosophy, Sciences and Literature, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil

    Silvia R.M. Pedro

  3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama

    David W. Roubik

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Vit, P., D’Albore, G.R., Barth, O.M., Peña-Vera, M., Pérez-Pérez, E. (2018). Characterization of Pot-Pollen from Southern Venezuela. In: Vit, P., Pedro, S., Roubik, D. (eds) Pot-Pollen in Stingless Bee Melittology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61839-5_26

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