The bigger, the smaller: relationship between body size and food stores in the stingless bee Melipona flavolineata

Worker body size is a key feature for stingless bee biology, being related with the foraging range of colonies. We correlated the intertegular span, corbicular area, head width, and interocular distance, as well as the fresh weight, from workers of Melipona flavolineata, a species from the Amazonian Region, with the stored reserves of honey and pollen. The food reserves decreased with the increase of rainfall, and there was a significant correlation between intertegular span, corbicular area, and food stores. The corbiculae was inversely correlated with food reserves, while the width of thorax was positively related. We consider the allometric variation of thorax width and corbicular area as a mechanism to adjust colonial food collection, since larger corbiculae would maximize the pollen-gathering during the rainy, dearth periods, and when the resource supply increases, the workers increase in the width of thorax, being able to explore larger areas and replenish the colonial food stores.