Foraging plant and palynological analysis of stingless bee pot-pollen in Pattani, Thailand

This is the first foraging plant and palynological study using pollen stored by Heterotrigona itama (Apidae: Meliponini) in the Saiburi, Pattani, Thailand. The samples were directly collected from the pollen pots of H. itama species in apiaries located in Saiburi district. The samples were dried, weighed, diluted in warm water and ethanol, centrifuged and then processed using the acetolysis method. After mounting the pollen samples on the glass slides, we identified and counted at least 500 pollen grains per sample. The results show that the main pollen combinations in the pollen pots of H. itama include pollen from Wedelia, Acacia, Cocos and Elaeis. Most pollen types came from the families Mimosasae, Graminae and Asteraceae family