How far can Melipona mandacaia (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) foragers fly in a caatinga area of NE Brazil?

The distance a bee can fly is quite relevant, among other aspects, for successful pollination. The objectives of this study were to verify the maximum distance a forager of Meliponamandacaia can flyand whether experience is relevant for it. Five colonies were used to collect foragers, which were marked and released from and each 100m, up to a maximum distance on which there would be no bee returning. To evaluate the influence of experience, after being marked, bees were put back into colonies, collected again after eight days, and released in five distances only (500m-2,500m). In both experiments as the distance increased, the returning success decreased significantly. The maximum distance a translocated bee returned to its hive was 2,700m. The percentage of success was very high for bees released at 500 and 1,000m (100% and 77%, respectively), suggesting this is the common flight range for the species. In most cases, average percentage of success was significantly higher for experienced bees than for the other bees reinforcing that experience is quite important for returning to the nest.