Abstract: The stingless bees are important flowers visitors of several plant species, due to their feeding habits
and foraging behavior, constituting an important group to maintain biodiversity and the dynamics of tropical
communities. Among stingless bees, Tetragonisca angustula is widely distributed in tropical habitats, and has
been considered an important pollinator of different plant families. To support a rational economic use of this
group, there is a need to characterize the plant species that represent important sources as part of their diet, as
preferred, alternative or casual food sources. The aim of this survey was to distinguish the plant species that
T. angustula visited most often. The study was undertaken in four regions of the Atlantic Rainforest in Rio de
Janeiro state (Brazil) over a year from March 2008 to February 2009. For this, we collected bees, flowering
plants and bee pollen loads from the four sites, and evaluated pollen morphology in the laboratory. Field observations showed the presence of plants belonging to ten different families and pollen loads showed the presence
of pollen types belonging to 26 plant families. There were strong differences between pollen types, especially
regarding pollen grain shape. The present survey suggests a high value of these plant species as trophic resources
for the T. angustula in the understory of Atlantic Rainforest. Changes in these fragments of this forest may
compromise the availability of resources for Tetragonisca angustula species and other stingless bees. Rev. Biol.
Trop. 60 (4): 1491-1501. Epub 2012 December 01.