Indian bee-flower interactions

Hello everyone,

Firstly, thanks to every observer who has contributed to the Bee-Flower Interaction Project over the past year. We know adding plant identifications is not always easy, and we are only thankful to you for the time and effort that you have put in. We also thank people who are more familiar with plants for their help in identifying plants.

We have been wanting to follow-up with an update and to be able to present the data that we’ve gathered so far. We hope this journal update serves that purpose.

To begin with, here’s a distribution of all the observations that have been added to the project. As evident, we need to add observations from more regions of the country to make sure that the data is reflective of the diversity, and also continue adding more observations. Any help towards achieving this is welcome, and we look for your continued support.

The project has seen over 1700 observations from more than 250 individual observers, and covering more than 86 unique groups of Bees. These observations have revealed interactions of bees with more than 175 unique groups of plants. Here is a quick look at the most commonly observed bees under the project so far, with Xylocopa and Apis cerana leading the count:

Next we have the most common plant groups that the bees documented under the project have interacted with. Calotropis flowers (one of the Milkweeds) are the most commonly interacted with.

Next we have the total number of unique plants that each set of Bees have interacted with. For instance, Apis cerana have been seen interacting with a total 95 unique plant groups, Xylocopa bees with a total of 75 unique plants, and so on.

As you can imagine, the overall dataset is quite complex to be able to present in the form of charts or other visually pleasing means. So, we’ve compiled a table with all the plants that each of the bees have been documented around. Note that we’ve excluded a few observations that had plant IDs only at ‘Plantae’ level as those observations need more refined IDs. Also note that there will be some overlaps here as plant IDs sometimes are only at a family level, while others may have the exact genus or species within that family. For example, we have Asteraceae under Apis cerana while Cosmos or Tridax are also present in the list. In the long term, we may need to try and refine as many plant IDs as we can, so that the data is less overlapping while accounting for as much of the data as possible.

Again, we would like to thank every individual who has contributed to the project in the form of observations, plant IDs and in every other way.

 

Aethomegachile (4)	Apis florea (82)	Rosa	Nomia buddha (1)	Xylocopa (29)
Cajanus	Acacia	Rotheca	Anisomeles	Alpinia
Luffa	Acmella	Ruellia	Nomia crassipes (6)	Argyreia
Millettia	Allium	Sphagneticola	Cleome	Calotropis
Phaseolus	Alternanthera	Taraxacum	Coleus	Centrosema
Amegilla (7)	Amaranthaceae	Tecoma	Ocimum	Crotalaria
Calotropis	Antigonon	Turnera	Sesamum	Crotalarieae
Cyanthillium	Arecaceae	Ctenoplectra (1)	Sphenoclea	Cyanotis
Lantana	Argemone	Dendrobium	Tridax	Hygrophila
Leucas	Asclepias	Eoanthidium salemense (3)	Nomia curvipes (1)	Justicia
Ocimum	Asteraceae	Bidens	Tridax	Lantana
Solanum	Avicennia	Ocimum	Nomia elliotii (3)	Leucas
Tribulus	Bacopa	Sphagneticola	Cleome	Libidibia
Amegilla confusa (1)	Borassus	Euaspis (5)	Coccinia	Luffa
Lamiaceae	Boswellia	Asystasia	Millettia	Mesosphaerum
Amegilla dizona (3)	Brassica	Medicago	Nomia iridescens (3)	Millettia
Anisomeles	Brassicaceae	Millettia	Caesalpinia	Mimosa
Leucas	Calotropis	Murraya	Senna	Momordica
Tecoma	Capparis	Ocimum	Volkameria	Passiflora
Amegilla violacea (4)	Chromolaena	Eucerini (4)	Nomia radiata (1)	Pentas
Calotropis	Cleome	Fabales	Corchorus	Phaseolus
Costus	Combretum	Luffa	Nomia strigata (6)	Rotheca
Lantana	Couroupita	Smithia	Bauhinia	Samanea
Mesosphaerum	Cuphea	Vicoa	Cocos	Senna
Andrena (1)	Cyanotis	Eutricharaea (3)	Derris	Solanum
Rubus	Cyperus	Cajanus	Lantana	Stachytarpheta
Anthophila (2)	Derris	Scoparia	Urena	Thunbergia
Jatropha	Euphorbia	Tridax	Zingiberaceae	Tricholepis
Pogostemon	Gaillardia	Halictidae (2)	Nomia thoracica (3)	Vigna
Anthophora (1)	Gazania	Antigonon	Corchorus	Wisteria
Corydalis	Gerbera	Grewia	Justicia	Xylocopa auripennis (5)
Apidae (1)	Glycosmis	Halictini (3)	Leea	Calotropis
Mammea	Gomphrena	Cocos	Nomia westwoodi (31)	Catharanthus
Apinae (2)	Gymnema	Dianthus	Abutilon	Crotalaria
Antigonon	Hamelia	Murraya	Antigonon	Hellenia
Strobilanthes	Hygrophila	Halictus latisignatus (2)	Asystasia	Millettia
Apis (1)	Ipomoea	Alternanthera	Averrhoa	Xylocopa fenestrata (10)
Lantana	Ixora	Senecio	Caesalpinia	Alangium
Apis cerana (104)	Jacquemontia	Homalictus (1)	Cichorioideae	Asclepias
Acanthaceae	Justicia	Pseuderanthemum	Cleome	Cajanus
Adelocaryum	Kydia	Hoplonomia (7)	Coccinia	Calotropis
Ageratum	Lagenaria	Cajanus	Coleus	Coccinia
Allium	Lagerstroemia	Cleome	Crotalarieae	Crotalaria
Aloysia	Leea	Crotalaria	Cucurbitales	Lantana
Antigonon	Leucas	Justicia	Cuphea	Luffa
Argemone	Libidibia	Muntingia	Drymophila	Momordica
Asclepias	Luffa	Senna	Gomphrena	Sesamum
Asteraceae	Melanthera	Solanum	Grewia	Xylocopa ruficornis (14)
Averrhoa	Mikania	Hylaeus (3)	Leea	Crotalaria
Bauhinia	Millettia	Cleome	Macroptilium	Grewia
Bidens	Mimosa	Loranthaceae	Mesosphaerum	Hydrangea
Brassica	Mitracarpus	Terminalia	Millettia	Lantana
Brassicaceae	Muntingia	Ipomalictus (1)	Murdannia	Millettia
Calliandra	Murdannia	Hibiscus	Neltuma	Mimusops
Canna	Neltuma	Koptortosoma (20)	Passiflora	Passiflora
Capparis	Nelumbo	Anisomeles	Plumbago	Rotheca
Cardiospermum	Nymphaea	Calotropis	Rotheca	Senna
Carduoideae	Nymphaeaceae	Clerodendrum	Salvia	Smithia
Centratherum	Ocimum	Crotalaria	Sida	Solanum
Chrozophora	Opuntia	Lagerstroemia	Solanum	Tecoma
Cirsium	Parthenium	Leucas	Tadehagi	Thunbergia
Cleome	Phyla	Lobelia	Tecomaria	Turnera
Coccinia	Picris	Luffa	Tridax	Xylocopa tenuiscapa (15)
Cocos	Portulaca	Millettia	Vitex	Acanthus
Coleus	Psidium	Mimusops	Nomiinae (2)	Argyreia
Commelina	Pyrostegia	Passiflora	Crotalaria	Asclepias
Cosmos	Ricinus	Passifloraceae	Leea	Calotropis
Crotalaria	Rosa	Pentas	Osmia (1)	Cassia
Cucurbita	Samanea	Petrea	Cicer	Clitoria
Cucurbitaceae	Scoparia	Phaseolus	Osmiini (1)	Crotalaria
Cuphea	Solidago	Senna	Silybum	Crotalarieae
Cyanotis	Sphagneticola	Sesamum	Pachyanthidium lachrymosum (1)	Luffa
Cyathocline	Syzygium	Sida	Fabaceae	Mesosphaerum
Cycadaceae	Tagetes	Stachytarpheta	Pachyhalictus (1)	Millettia
Dahlia	Tecoma	Tecoma	Begonia	Nerium
Dalbergia	Terminalia	Lasioglossum (24)	Pithitis (33)	Rotheca
Derris	Trianthema	Abutilon	Asystasia	Stachytarpheta
Diplocyclos	Tridax	Brassica	Bidens	Thunbergia
Duranta	Verbesina	Calotropis	Cleome	Xylocopa tranquebarica (3)
Erigeron	Vigna	Cichorium	Cosmos	Impatiens
Euphorbia	Vitex	Cocos	Crotalaria	Polianthes
Evolvulus	Volkameria	Coleus	Cucumis	Sesamum
Gazania	Zinnia	Cosmos	Cucurbitaceae	Xylocopa tranquebarorum (1)
Guilandina	Apis laboriosa (3)	Cyanotis	Cuphea	Lantana
Hamelia	Campanula	Ixora	Fabaceae	Zonamegilla (39)
Heliantheae	Geranium	Leea	Glycosmis	Alpinia
Helianthus	Rubus	Mazus	Helianthus	Calotropis
Hyptis	Apis mellifera (4)	Mesosphaerum	Ipomoea	Capsicum
Impatiens	Argemone	Millettia	Jacquemontia	Cascabela
Ipomoea	Nerium	Momordica	Malvastrum	Clitoria
Ischaemum	Syzygium	Ocimum	Millettia	Coleus
Ixora	Tridax	Plumbago	Momordica	Corchorus
Jacquemontia	Austronomia (4)	Poaceae	Murraya	Cucurbitaceae
Jatropha	Cucumis	Poales	Ocimum	Curculigo
Leea	Cyanotis	Ruellia	Persicaria	Galphimia
Lepidagathis	Pigea	Sphagneticola	Plumbago	Hippeastrum
Lippia	Sida	Tribulus	Portulaca	Ipomoea
Luffa	Bombus (6)	Tridax	Ruellia	Justicia
Malpighia	Centaurea	Turnera	Salvia	Lantana
Mammea	Gaillardia	Zephyranthes	Sida	Lepidagathis
Memecylon	Lamium	Lasioglossum albescens (22)	Smithia	Leucas
Millettia	Lantana	Alternanthera	Spermacoce	Luffa
Mimosa	Salvia	Asystasia	Sphagneticola	Memecylon
Mitracarpus	Solanum	Capsicum	Tephrosia	Mesosphaerum
Muntingia	Bombus breviceps (1)	Carduoideae	Torenia	Millettia
Musa	Lantana	Combretum	Trichodesma	Moringa
Nymphaeaceae	Bombus genalis (1)	Cosmos	Tridax	Mussaenda
Ocimum	Rubus	Hamelia	Turnera	Ocimum
Opuntia	Bombus rufofasciatus (2)	Ipomoea	Wedelia	Passiflora
Oryza	Potentilla	Life	Pseudapis oxybeloides (4)	Pentas
Papaver	Rosa	Luffa	Cleome	Portulaca
Parasopubia	Braunsapis (25)	Megaskepasma	Cocos	Pseuderanthemum
Passiflora	Antigonon	Plumbago	Leucas	Rauvolfia
Poaceae	Asclepias	Poales	Solanum	Salvia
Poales	Bidens	Portulaca	Pseudoanthidium rotundiventre (1)	Senna
Polianthes	Biophytum	Sida	Blumea	Sida
Premna	Caesalpinia	Sonchus	Pseudomegachile (3)	Solanum
Pterolobium	Cichorioideae	Sphagneticola	Cicer	Stachytarpheta
Ranunculus	Cocos	Taraxacum	Crotalaria	Tecoma
Rhododendron	Cucurbitaceae	Tecoma	Medicago	Torenia
Ricinus	Curculigo	Tridax	Pycnanthidium (1)	Trichosanthes
Rostellularia	Cyanotis	Turnera	Grewia	Triumfetta
Rubus	Euphorbia	Zanthoxylum	Rhopalomelissa (4)	Turnera
Ruellia	Fabaceae	Lipotriches (5)	Ischaemum	Zingiberaceae
Salix	Glycosmis	Boerhavia	Poaceae
Santalum	Grewia	Cleome	Poales
Sida	Impatiens	Ischaemum	Sphagneticola
Smithia	Jacquemontia	Oryza	Seladonia (9)
Solanum	Lantana	Poaceae	Bidens
Solidago	Leea	Lipotriches fervida (2)	Croton
Spermacoceae	Libidibia	Alternanthera	Eclipta
Sphagneticola	Muntingia	Parthenium	Glebionis
Stachytarpheta	Nymphaea	Lipotriches fulvinerva (1)	Lactuca
Strobilanthes	Oxalis	Sida	Lagascea
Tagetes	Portulaca	Lipotriches lonavlaensis (1)	Ocimum
Tithonia	Pseuderanthemum	Smithia	Sphagneticola
Tribulus	Sida	Lipotriches nanensis (2)	Tridax
Tridax	Callomegachile (8)	Poaceae	Sibiricobombus (1)
Trifolium	Celosia	Stachytarpheta	Astragalus
Tropaeolum	Euphorbia	Lipotriches scutellata (1)	Sphecodes (1)
Turnera	Lagerstroemia	Causonis	Antigonon
Vachellia	Lawsonia	Lipotriches torrida (1)	Steganomus (2)
Zea	Leucas	Poaceae	Medicago
Apis dorsata (72)	Millettia	Lithurgus (6)	Tridax
Allium	Pogostemon	Abelmoschus	Tetragonula (43)
Antigonon	Salvia	Gossypium	Angelonia
Arecaceae	Ceratina smaragdula (1)	Hibiscus	Arecaceae
Bauhinia	Cleome	Ipomoea	Avicennia
Bombax	Ceratina waini (1)	Operculina	Barleria
Brassica	Leea	Thespesia	Bauhinia
Caesalpinia	Ceratinidia (32)	Maynenomia (1)	Caesalpinia
Calliandra	Alnus	Sida	Cajanus
Celosia	Antigonon	Megachile (17)	Capsicum
Cestrum	Asteraceae	Aegle	Cascabela
Chromolaena	Asystasia	Anisomeles	Catharanthus
Chrozophora	Bidens	Caesalpinioideae	Celosia
Cleome	Boerhavia	Cajanus	Centratherum
Clerodendrum	Catharanthus	Calotropis	Citrus
Coccinia	Celosia	Clinopodium	Cleome
Combretum	Citrus	Coleus	Coleus
Commelina	Cocos	Crotalaria	Cucurbitaceae
Cosmos	Coleus	Eriophyton	Euphorbia
Crescentia	Cosmos	Fabales	Hamelia
Crotalarieae	Crotalaria	Lippia	Hibiscus
Cucurbitaceae	Cuphea	Mesosphaerum	Hymenocallis
Cyanotis	Duranta	Millettia	Ixora
Derris	Ixora	Pogostemon	Jatropha
Excoecaria	Jacquemontia	Raphanus	Libidibia
Getonia	Lantana	Sesamum	Ludwigia
Glycosmis	Leea	Vitex	Malpighia
Grewia	Leucas	Megachile bicolor (2)	Mammea
Guizotia	Luffa	Caesalpinia	Mimosa
Hamelia	Plumbago	Millettia	Muntingia
Hibiscus	Rotheca	Megachile conjuncta (1)	Neltuma
Impatiens	Solidago	Derris	Nyctanthes
Ixora	Stachytarpheta	Megachile disjuncta (5)	Nymphaea
Jatropha	Synedrella	Caesalpinia	Ocimum
Justicia	Tecoma	Cajanus	Portulaca
Lantana	Tephrosia	Crotalaria	Rosa
Leea	Tridax	Millettia	Syzygium
Leucas	Turnera	Tagetes	Tabernaemontana
Leucophyllum	Vitex	Megachile lanata (5)	Tagetes
Lippia	Zinnia	Cajanus	Thunbergia
Luffa	Coelioxys (5)	Crotalaria	Torenia
Malachra	Adenium	Leucas	Tridax
Mammea	Glycosmis	Mesosphaerum	Turnera
Mesosphaerum	Grewia	Millettia	Volkameria
Millettia	Murraya	Megachile lerma (1)	Zea
Mimosa	Verbena	Crotalarieae	Tetralonia macroceps (2)
Murraya	Colletes (1)	Nodula (6)	Argyreia
Nerium	Celosia	Alternanthera	Ipomoea
Nymphaea	Ctenonomia (31)	Asystasia	Thrinchostoma (1)
Ocimum	Antigonon	Calotropis	Begonia
Passiflora	Argemone	Coleus	Thyreus (13)
Pentas	Brassica	Crotalarieae	Antigonon
Pergularia	Brassicaceae	Triumfetta	Coleus
Poaceae	Clerodendrum	Nomada (4)	Cosmos
Poales	Coccinia	Cirsium	Lantana
Pseuderanthemum	Cocos	Cleome	Leea
Pterolobium	Colebrookea	Oxalis	Leucas
Rosa	Coreopsis	Tecoma	Mesosphaerum
Sambucus	Cosmos	Nomada furva (1)	Ocimum
Santalum	Curculigo	Alternanthera	Premna
Senna	Gaillardia	Nomia (12)	Rotheca
Sesamum	Impatiens	Anisomeles	Senegalia
Sphagneticola	Ipomoea	Cleome	Sida
Stachytarpheta	Leea	Crotalaria	Stachytarpheta
Syzygium	Leucas	Derris	Thyreus himalayensis (1)
Tecoma	Luffa	Euphorbia	Lippia
Tephrosia	Momordica	Grewia	Xanthoceratina (1)
Tribulus	Muntingia	Hamelia	Mazus
Tridax	Nymphaeaceae	Pseuderanthemum	Xanthosarus (2)
Turnera	Oxalis	Salvia	Crotalaria
Urena	Passiflora	Scoparia	Sesamum
Wrightia	Plumbago	Solanum
Zinnia	Pseuderanthemum	Tradescantia

@adityaramakrishnan13 @afsarnayakkan @alagu @anil_kumar_verma @anubhav-agarwal @arajush_payra @ashirwad @ashwinv @athul2 @awayk3n @bhagwatn @bhuvanrajk @chahatyadav @chitrashanker @csbandi @debashischowdhury @deekshith1 @dhyey13 @dineshkumar7 @dineshs @dineshvalke @drpadhiyar @gs5 @haneesh @harshithjv @hopeland @itsamantis @itz_bee_man @jeyan @jithesh @kaiwalya @karan_7 @karan_matalia @karthikeyaeco @kishorenath @kunikimu @me_tarun @mercy_madhurima @naturalist43365 @naturalist_aditya @natures_kid @navaneethsinigeorge @navya_s @neelakantankk @nikkitha @odonut @onkar1708 @pazu @pcbose @praveen_tangirala @prbh @quailboy @rajesh_balakrishnan @ramaneelamegam @robinho @rujutavinod @sacredreinard @sagarika_chen @sai42 @samarth_jain @samrudhnandagopal @sayeegirdhari @shiwalee @shms @siddarthmachado @sonukumar055 @subbu107 @sunnyjosef @swanand @tushar3949 @umavaijnath @vaidyar @vaishnavkv @veenas @vidswami @vijaybarve @vinodborse @vishaljadhavindia @vivek32 @vivekbgirija @ygurjar less ↑