Morphometric Characterization of the Stingless Bee (Tetragonula iridipennis Smith, 1854) (Apidae, Hymenoptera)
Ramkumar Niranjan *
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ram Keval
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Gouri Shankar Giri
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India and Department of Entomology, Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Bihar – 843121, India.
Vinita Sharma
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rohit Kumar Verma
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Srinivasa N
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
A. K. Singh
Department of Entomology, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi – 284003, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Kartikeya Srivastava
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The morphometric characterization of the stingless bee (Tetragonula iridipennis) from the North Eastern Plain Zone of Uttar Pradesh, India, was recorded. The Forager stingless bees were collected from the blooms of Indian mustard at the Agricultural Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, during rabi 2023-25. The collected samples were preserved in 70% ethanol (alcohol) and examined under a stereo zoom microscope. The fourteen key morphometric characteristics of the T. iridipennis species were precisely measured. In average, specimens examined were having 3.83±0.105 mm body length, 1.40±0.027mm head length, 1.76±0.041mm head width, 1.58±0.028mm thorax length, 1.18±0.018mm thorax width, 1.50±0.019mm abdomen length, 1.17±0.004 abdomen length, 1.26±0.038mm proboscis length, 1.01±0.025 hind femur length, 1.38±0.025mm hind tibia length, 3.30±0.057mm forewing length, 1.37±0.040mm forewing width, 2.38±0.059mm hindwing width, and 0.58±0.015mm hindwing. Based on previous reports of morphological characteristics, our morphometric measurements are corroborated, and we confirmed that the specimen examined is T. iridipennis.
Keywords: Tetragonula iridipennis, morphology, proboscis length, Banaras Hindu University