POLLEN TRANSPORT BY APIS MELLIFERA IN THE PAMPA DEL TAMARUGAL

Abstract

Apis mellifera acts as a good potential pollinator of Prosopis tamarugo in the desert part of
Chile. Several colonies have been carried over to the Pampa del Tamarugal during the blooming
season, in order lo increase the productivity of honey. About 10 per cent of the foragers show full
pollen loads, bolh in winter and spring time; almost all of the foragers observed carned pollen on the
clypeus and sternal thoracic hairs. Wild colonies were in very poor conditions, presenting no
adaptations lo the xeric environment. The floral biology of P. tamarugo shows interesting features
thal are betler understood under the Bateman’s Principie.