A Conservation Assessment of

Stingless Bees (Apidae: Meliponini)

in Singapore

Chui Shao Xiong

A thesis submitted to the

Department of Biological Science
National University of Singapore
in partial fulfilment for the
Degree of Bachelor of Science with Honours
in
Life Sciences

Cohort AY2014/2015 S1

Acknowledgements

This journey has involved detours, roadblocks, and a few dead ends, but like many of
those who have made it before me, somehow we made to the finish line, a little worse for
wear, but a little more knowledgeable, and hopefully a little wiser.

I have benefited in varying amounts from the following people, all of which have my thanks:
Asst. Prof. John S. Ascher, my supervisor, for the supervision that I greatly appreciate as a step
into a wider world.
Ms. Samantha Lai from NParks, for processing and coordinating the approval of permit
[NParks Permit number: NP/RP14-082], thereby allowing the study to be carried out.
Ms. Abigail Huang from the National Archives of Singapore, for her patience in facilitating the
retrieval of the many historical maps that I requested for.
Ms. Heidi Lee from the Singapore Land Authority, for granting permission to use these
historical maps as reference material for this study.
Mr. Randolph Quek Z. B., for the mutualism we shared from the intersection of separate
studies on Fishtail Palms and the stingless bees that visit them.
To Rafi, Meng Hwee, Randolph, Wei Qiang, Ken Wei, Leonard, Weng Ngai, Joshua, Kelly,
Eunice, Kiayi, and Sihao, because getting to the end of the final year required endurance for
the first two, enjoyment of the third, and resolution for the last, all of which required healthy
doses of friendship, which you all have provided in one way or another.

Contents
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ i
Contents ........................................................................................................................................ ii
List of appendices .................................................................................................................... iii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ iv
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1
2. Methods .................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Present sampling of extant stingless bee species ............................................................... 7
2.2 Documentation of spatial land use changes ....................................................................... 9
2.3 Geometric morphometrics ................................................................................................ 10
3. Results & Discussion ............................................................................................................... 13
3.1 Sampling of extant species ................................................................................................ 13
3.2 Recorded species distribution ........................................................................................... 16
3.3 Implications of biology on conservation ........................................................................... 22
3.4 Morphometrics ................................................................................................................. 26
3.4.1 Traditional morphometrics ........................................................................................ 26
3.4.2 Geometric Morphometrics ........................................................................................ 29
4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 37
4.1 Future directions ............................................................................................................... 37
4.2 Concluding remarks .......................................................................................................... 39
5. References .............................................................................................................................. 41

ii

List of appendices

Appendix I Historical maps of Singapore

Appendix II Nests of stingless bees

iii

Abstract
Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are important understorey pollinators of
lowland dipterocarp forests of Southeast Asia. The impact of continued regional forest
loss on these forest dependent, highly eusocial bees is not known. Singapore can be
used as a model to assess the impact of past deforestation on species loss, through
comparison of extant and historically recorded species. Of 11 species historically
recorded, 7 were recorded in Singapore during the present study, mirroring extinction
rates for vertebrates but not for other bees. Reduction of nest sites, as evidenced by the
paucity of larger trees in secondary forests, is seen as a potentially important driver of
species loss in Singapore. Species differed in their ability to adapt to the urban
environments. For example, among Tetragonula only T. laeviceps was commonly found
in urban parks, whereas Tetragonula geissleri and Tetragonula pagdeniformis were
restricted to larger forest fragments. Geometric morphometrics (quantitative analysis of
shape variation) of the forewing and hind leg of stingless bees provided an objective
method of shape comparisons between species taxa. It clearly separated all genera, but
not three morphologically similar species Tetragonula species (T. geissleri, T. laeviceps,
and T. pagdeniformis).

iv

1. Introduction
Conservation assessment of stingless bees in Singapore
From the second half of the twentieth century, an alarming trend of sustained
deforestation rates in Southeast Asia of 0.67% per year in the 1990s and 0.59% per year
in the 2000s has resulted in forest loss of 32 Mha, or 6.5% of the regions land area in
two decades (Stibig et al., 2014). The main drivers of deforestation include conversion
to cash crops, rubber plantations, and increasingly oil palm plantations. There is urgent
need to understand how this deforestation will affect species diversity (particularly that
of invertebrates) (Lawton et al., 1998; Whitmore & Sayer, 1992), ecosystem services,
and the healthy functioning of an ecosystem. A baseline conservation assessment is
crucial to inform future monitoring and eventual habitat conservation.
Deforestation in Singapore is not a recent occurrence, as by the mid-1800s
lowland dipterocarp-dominated rain forests in Singapore had largely been cleared for
gambier and pepper plantations, leaving only small patches of original forest on a few
hill tops by 1854 (ODempsey, 2014; Wallace, 1869). Primary forest fragments now
comprise just 0.2% of total land area, and secondary forests an additional 4%. With
relatively mature secondary forests of mostly 50-80 years of age as the major extant
forest type within Singapore, understanding how animals make use of these forests as
compared to primary forest that are much more complex, both structurally and
floristically, will be key to establishing their conservation status (Chua et al., 2013;
Corlett, 1992). Singapore, as a model for the effects of tropical deforestation on species
diversity, can inform discussion of the future repercussions of continued forest loss in
the region and globally. Brook et al. (2003) estimated catastrophic extinctions following
deforestation in Singapore by comparing observed and inferred extinction rates across

many taxa. Extending this approach to other invertebrate groups, such as pollinators,
will provide cross-taxa comparison and greater insights as to the effects of deforestation
on fauna.
The closed understorey of lowland dipterocarp forests is windless, so pollination
services must come from animals, with eusocial corbiculate bees (Apis, Meliponini) a
major contributor through their sheer abundance (Corlett, 2004). The effects of
deforestation on bees and the resulting effects on pollination cannot be fully appreciated
without a comparison of baseline inventories between historical and current species.
Bee species richness in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia is known to be
poor in comparison to the high plant species richness present (Roubik, 1990). Roubik
postulated that each highly eusocial species, supreme generalists, could occupy the role
of several solitary species in an ecological hierarchy of food resource usage. While
honey bees (Apis) have a low diversity (ca. 10 spp.) with a native paleotropics range
spanning Europe to their maximum diversity in Southeast Asia, stingless bees
(Meliponini) have a relatively high diversity of (ca. 500 spp.) distributed pantropically
(Ascher & Pickering, 2015; Charles D. Michener, 2007). However, while studies on
stingless bees are relatively lacking in Southeast Asia when compared to the relatively
prolific research from the Neotropics (Michener, 2007), research has been on the rise in
the region (Liow, 2001; Sakagami et al., 1990; Salim et al., 2012).
The most recent comprehensive general survey of bees in the forest understorey
of Singapore was conducted by Liow (2001) through baiting with a diluted honey
solution. Prior to this, patchy records of stingless bees (Cockerell, 1918; Sakagami,
1959, 1978; Smith, 1857) were probably netted at flowers, in rain forest dominated by
tropical dipterocarps, a habitat where scarce floral resources is the norm, punctuated

only by infrequent (2-6 yrs) dipterocarp masting events (Sakai, 2002). Soh & Ngiam,
(2013) surveyed bees and wasps in parks within Singapore through netting at flowers,
but the majority of sites were too open and contained too low quality forests to sustain a
variety of stingless bees. As for solitary leaf-cutter bees (Megachile) in Singapore, of
which 10 new species records were added to the total of 21 species for Singapore
(Ascher et al., accepted), a comprehensive species inventory had yet to be consolidated
for the highly eusocial stingless bees as of 2013.
Application of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red
List of Threatened Species, in the conservation assessment of stingless bees in
Singapore, is not presently possible as the IUCN has yet to evaluate Meliponini, and
had only just recently made a first review of European bee species (no Meliponini).
Fortunately, most, if not all Singapore species, even locally extirpated ones, are
widespread in Peninsular Malaysia as well as within the Southeast Asian region, and so
are not of a high concern globally.
Taxonomy
The genus Tetragonula (often treated as a subgenus of Trigona, sometimes as
part of subgenus Heterotrigona), a Southeast Asian group, includes Tetragonula
laeviceps sensu lato, a common species complex in the region. The neotype of T.
laeviceps was designated from a worker which originates from Singapore, after the
holotype was deemed to have been lost (Rasmussen & Michener, 2010). Notoriously
variable with overlapping morphological characters, Tetragonula species offer few
reliable characters for species identification, with species descriptions often based
primarily on a combination of size and subtle differences in hair pattern and colour. The
colour of various appendages varies within populations and is subject to interpretation

(Sakagami, 1978), and variability of diagnostic characters has limited the utility of
taxonomic keys for species determination. In practice, study of comprehensive
reference collections including type material or specimens compared with types is often
necessary to consistently identify regional Meliponini, but these have not been available
in Singapore.
Advances in molecular systematics have enabled longer stretches of DNA to be
sequenced and analysed, potentially allowing for reliable species delimitation and
identifications and also increasingly accurate reconstructions of the molecular
phylogeny of stingless bees to be made (Rasmussen & Cameron, 2007). [However, not
all named forms are included in BOLD and other online databases, and many publicly
available sequences lack identifications or these are unreliable.]
Complementarity between varying lines of evidence, such as traditional
morphology, geometric morphometrics, and genetics, should inform decisions about
species delimitation and identification (Schlick-Steiner et al., 2010; Schwarzfeld &
Sperling, 2014). Exploring applications from the growing field of geometric
morphometrics, on the usage of shape variation of certain morphological characters for
species diagnosis, is one aim of the current study.
Traditional morphometrics, as practised by Sakagami (1978) in his measurement
of various parts of Tetragonula bees, involved the comparison of length measurements
of various characters as a means to diagnose species. While Sakagami found allometric
trends for some characters, the underlying flaw of the method is its inability to localise
morphological differences (Zelditch et al., 2012), which limits its utility for species
diagnosis.

Geometric morphometrics offers an alternative interpretation of morphological

characters, focusing on quantification of shape rather than qualitative description as
found in traditional taxonomic works, or use of character lengths used as in traditional
morphometrics (Zelditch et al., 2012). There are two main approaches to geometric
morphometrics: 1) landmark-based method; 2) outline-method. The landmark-based
method compares a series of homologous characters between specimens to quantify
shape variation, whereas the outline method compares the outline of a morphological
character between specimens to quantify shape variation. Whereas the landmark-based
method has been used to quantify shape variation in the forewings of stingless bees in a
few studies (Combey et al., 2013; Vijayakumar & Jayaraj, 2013), there is potential for
the outline-based method to characterise shape variation for morphological characters
with few homologous points (Dujardin et al., 2014).

Aims
This study investigates how deforestation has affected species diversity of a key
invertebrate group, stingless bees, in Singapore, within the context of potential loss of
invertebrate diversity and ecological interactions should present deforestation rates be
maintained in Southeast Asia. To this end, this study seeks to:
1) Determine stingless bee species loss in Singapore through comparison of extant
species collected during present sampling, and historically recorded species.
2) Examine land use changes in Singapore through historical maps, to correlate spatial
patterns of deforestation and recorded species distribution, in order to infer the
effects of deforestation on species loss.
3) Improve tools for species diagnosis through integrative taxonomy, particularly
among Tetragonula species present in Singapore:
a) explore the usage of geometric morphometrics, on selected characters (e.g.
forewing and hind leg), as an additional means to complement existing
species diagnosis.
b) examine success rates of species diagnosis between traditional
morphological-based taxonomy and geometric morphometrics.

2. Methods
2.1 Present sampling of extant stingless
bee species
2.1.1 Sampling localities
The 8 sites selected (Fig. 1, Table 1) for
bait sampling were within the Central
Catchment Nature Reserves, the largest
continuous patch of remnant forest in
Singapore. Sites were selected from nonconvoluted, separate trails of at least 1km,
1 km

designated as official trails by the National

Parks Board (NParks), but sites 7 and 8
were contiguous. Bukit Timah Nature

Figure 1. Field collection sites within the Central

Catchment Nature Reserves. Refer to Table 1. for site
details.

Reserve (BTNR) was closed for restoration works during the course of this study.

Table 1. Field collection sites within the Central Catchment Nature Reserves.

no. Site
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

MCR1 (Lornie Trail)

MCR1 (MacRitchie Nature Trail)
MCR1 (Sime Track)
MCR1 (Rifle Range Link)
Nee Soon pipeline
Upper Peirce Reservoir (Pump
Station)
Dairy Farm Nature Park
Dairy Farm (Siap Rd)

MacRitchie Reservoir

>

Based on Yee & Tan (2010)

Forest Type>

Latitude Longitude

Mixed primary/secondary forest

Mixed primary/secondary forest
Old secondary forest
Old secondary forest
Freshwater swamp forest

1.34289
1.35279
1.35627
1.35292
1.38577

Young secondary forest

Old secondary forest
Old secondary forest

103.82710
103.82545
103.81422
103.80667
103.81120

1.37316 103.80425
1.36433 103.77625
1.36065 103.76969

2.1.2 Sampling method for stingless bees

Two main sampling methods are efficient for stingless bees: opportunistic
netting from flowers, and spray baiting with a sugar/honey solution on vegetation (Liow,
2001; Salim et al., 2012; Salmah et al., 1990). In particular, Liow found that the
spraying of a diluted honey solution on vegetation attracted a disproportionate number
of eusocial honey bees and stingless bees as compared to solitary bees, rendering this
method particularly suited for targeted sampling of stingless bees. Alternative methods
for sampling employed by Liow included funnel traps, bowl traps with a floating
platform, all of which have had comparatively low capture rates, while banana pulp
attracted no bees. Simple plastic bowl traps (filled with soapy water), which have been
used to great success to attract a variety of bees (non-Meliponini) in other more open
habitats such as meadows and arid areas, failed to attract bees in a trial run by Soh
(2014) (Ascher, pers. comm.).
2.1.3 Spray baiting of honey solution on vegetation
For sampling surveys of stingless bees, a modified sampling protocol using baits
was adapted from that of Liow (2001) and Salmah et al., (1990). Honey solution (1:4,
honey:water) with added salt (4 cm3/L), was used to attract stingless bees. Each site had
a 1 km transect consisting of 10 bait stations, spaced 100 m apart. The honey solution
was sprayed on vegetation in a 1 m radius of the sampling point to a height of 1.5 m at
each station along the transect.
A trial run compared sampling after pre-baiting the day before with sampling
without pre-baiting, and it was observed that both methods yielded stingless bees in
similar abundance at stations (pers. obs.). Sampling without pre-baiting was decided
upon due to the frequent, unpredictable inter-monsoonal rains that descended upon the

island during the sampling period (September to December 2014), which often rendered
pre-baiting unviable. Sampling took place two hours after initial spraying of bait, and a
maximum of ten individuals of each stingless bee morphospecies were collected within
ten minutes from each station.
2.1.4 Netting from flowers
Another source of samples was opportunistic netting of stingless bees from
flowers found along the transect at each site, mainly from two plant species which
dominate patches of shrubland interspersed within the forest (Dillenia suffruticosa and
Melastoma malabathricum)(Corlett, 1997). In particular, 14 bee species were recorded
on M. malabathricum in Singapore (Chong, 2010). In a collaborative effort with R. Z.
B. Quek, stingless bees captured from the male inflorescence of fish tail palms (Caryota
mitis), the subject of his study (Quek, 2015), were also included in this study.
2.1.5 Specimens
Collected specimens were pinned and deposited in the Insect Diversity
laboratory (IDL) reference collection (National University of Singapore) for study.
Vouchers specimens will be deposited in the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
(LKCNHM).
2.2 Documentation of spatial land use changes
To document land use changes in Singapore at varying points of its history,
historical topographic maps were obtained from the National Archives of Singapore
with approval granted by the Singapore Land Authority. Maps covering 1898, 1924, and
1937 were used (see Appendix I for details). A3-sized colour photocopies of the maps
were obtained, which were scanned at 600 dpi with a commercial scanner. The scanned

maps were then geo-referenced in ArcGIS ver. 9.2 with existing coordinates on the
maps, as well as through manual alignment using landmarks. Shape-polygon layers
were traced for primary and secondary forests present in each map. These layers were
then compiled to reveal spatial changes of primary and secondary forest over time. A
present day map of parks/forests in Singapore was sourced from the Urban
Redevelopment Authority (URA) 2014 Master Plan Parks and Waterbodies Plan
(Singapore. Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2014).
2.3 Geometric morphometrics
2.3.1 Imaging of Stingless bee specimens
A Canon 6D digital camera, with an attached MP-E 65mm 1-5x f2.8 lens, was
used to capture images. The camera was mounted on a copy stand setup (Visionary
Digital Imaging Passport II system). Individual images were stacked to form a focused
composite image with great depth of field (Zerene Stacker Build T201412212230, 21
Dec 2014).
The right forewing and hind leg were removed from a subset of specimens and
prepared in the same manner before imaging using the aforementioned setup, after
which analytical methods differed.
2.3.2 Preparation for imaging
To standardize the plane orientation of forewing and hind leg with reference to
the camera axis, both forewings and hind legs were mounted on glass microscope slides,
held in place in glycerol gelatin (Kaisers glycerin jelly) and sandwiched between slide
and cover slip. The use of an electric cup warmer was useful to keep the glycerol gelatin
liquid during specimen manipulation.

10

The hind legs of stingless bees required further preparation before mounting as
the corbicula (pollen basket) of the tibia was often coated with resin and pollen, which
if not cleaned off, made clear images of the hind tibia difficult. Soaking the legs in a
dishwashing liquid solution prior to sonication at 40kHz in a diluted glass cleaner
solution was sufficient to remove any debris (Harrison, 2012).
2.3.3 Geometric morphometric analyses
2.3.3.1 Landmark-based method
Landmarks were selected from homologous points on the forewing across all
species, usually situated at the junction of veins (Fig. 2). These landmarks were plotted
as an overlay on each wing image using tpsDig ver. 2.17 (Rohlf, 2013). The landmarks
were then aligned as a consensus shape using the Procrustes method in tpsRelw ver.
1.54 (Rohlf, 2014), from which principal component analysis (PCA) of wing shape
variation was obtained.

Figure 2. Landmark-based method. Forewing with 9 landmarks placed on homologous points.

11

2.3.3.2 Outline-based method

Due to the hirsute nature of the hind legs of various species, trial automation of
hind leg shape tracing with Adobe Photoshop CS5 did not produce accurate tibia or
basitarsus shape. Instead, manual tracing of the hind leg was carried out with the same
software. The traces were put through the SHAPE ver. 1.3 (Iwata & Ukai, 2002) suite of
programmes for harmonics (closed outlines described with algorithms) generation (Fig.

Figure 3. Outline-based method. Consecutive fitting of increasingly complex closed outlines,

harmonics, is used to quantify shape.

3) of elliptical fourier descriptors, for use in elliptic fourier analysis of tibia and
basitarsus shape variation, from which principal component scores (PCS) were obtained.
The PCS were in turn used for PCA.
2.3.4 Data analyses
Canonical Variates Analysis (CVA) was performed on principal components generated
from PCA using PAST ver. 3.05 (Hammer et al., 2001).
K-means testing was performed on principal components generated from PCA using
CLUSTER ver. 3.0 (Eisen & de Hoon, 2002).

12

3. Results & Discussion

3.1 Sampling of extant species
The present study recorded 7 extant species of stingless bees in Singapore (Fig.
4), namely: Heterotrigona itama, Lepidotrigona terminata, Tetrigona apicalis,
Tetragonula fuscobalteata, Tetragonula geissleri, Tetragonula laeviceps, and
Tetragonula pagdeniformis. During the present study, Lepidotrigona terminata was first
found on a Nipa Palm (Nypa fruticans) inflorescence at Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin in late
March 2015, too late for inclusion in morphometric analyses.

5mm

Figure 4. Workers of stingless bee species collected from present study. a: Heterotrigona itama;
b: Lepidotrigona terminata; c: Tetrigona apicalis; d: Tetragonula fuscobalteata; e: Tetragonula
geissleri; f: Tetragonula laeviceps; g: Tetragonula pagdeniformis.

The localities of each stingless bee species, and the methods used to collect the
data, are presented in Figure 5. Honey-baiting and netting was conducted primarily
within the Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR), with netting conducted at the

13

additional sites of Pulau Ubin, Kent Ridge Park, and the National University of
Singapore. Mangrove Insect Project (MIP) malaise trapping yielded few species, as did
most visual observations. Tetragonula laeviceps was present at most sites. One result is
the fewer number of species between CCNR and more urbanized areas. Two species
had single localities: Tetragonula fuscobalteata from SBG, and Lepidotrigona
terminata from Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin.
The Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) was exceptional in having 4 species
despite their urban location, situated away (ca. 2 km) from CCNR, contrary to
expectations of few Meliponini from parks and gardens, especially those not adjacent to
CCNR. However, it does have a small fragment of remnant primary rainforest (ca. 6 ha),
which could account for the unexpected number of species. One probable reason for the
higher than expected number of species, is the profusion of flowering plants throughout

Figure 5. Sampling localities in Singapore for 2014-2015 survey. Central Catchment Nature Reserve in grey.

14

the year in the botanic gardens, a rich food resource that could sustain multiple species.
Floral richness was such that while there was interference and exploitative competition
at individual flowers, species were not seen to engage in the exclusion of other species,
as in the case of niche preemption (pers. obs.) (Roubik, 1990).
Sampling was by no means exhaustive for the current study. Different sampling
techniques possibly yielded differing success rates of capturing species present at each
site. The sampling method used at the various sites in the study reflected a utilitarian
approach, where flowers were seen to be the best attractant for stingless bees; if flowers
were not present, baiting was the next best alternative.
Baiting with a diluted honey solution has been proven to be a viable method of
sampling for stingless bees in the forest understorey where flowering is scarce, as the
bees tended to recruit more foragers to the lucrative food source (Salim et al., 2012;
Salmah et al., 1990).
However, while this sampling technique is effective, it does not replace pollen
from flowers as an attractant, the second food resource stingless bees gather. For
instance, T. apicalis was found on Fishtail Palm (Caryota mitis) flowers, but not at baits
placed at the site. Palms in the forest provide a rich pollen source for stingless bees, in
particular the male inflorescences of Fishtail Palm (Caryota mitis) (R. Z. B. Quek,
2015), and should be considered as a good resource for the capture of stingless bees
should the chance arise.
Based on an examination of 61 sampling occurrences, (count of species
observed at each sampling event) the Chao1 estimator (Fig. 6) plateaus, at an estimated
species richness of 7 species for Singapore. Although the species, Lepidotrigona
terminata and Tetragonula fuscobalteata are represented by a singleton and doubleton

15

respectively, Chao1 did not estimate higher species richness. One explanation would be
that the total sampling occurrence consisted of few singletons and doubletons, and it is
thus unlikely that additional undetected
species exist. The >5 species estimated
from the Central Catchment Nature
Reserve (CCNR) (Fig. 6) exceeds current
observed estimates, and suggests that
additional bait sampling is required to
conclude if undetected, extinct species
would be rediscovered from within it. In
stark contrast, estimates of undetected
species far exceeded observed estimates
for Megachile (Soh, 2014).
Figure 6. Sampling occurrence based rarefaction
curve.

3.2 Recorded species distribution

Forest cover change maps (1898-2014) in Figure 7. Forests include both pristine
and degraded forests, which were not distinguished; Belukar is Malay for secondary
forest, likely to have been dominated by the tree species Adinandra belukar. Species
collected historically, with a specific locality in Singapore: A. R. Wallace 1854 (Bukit
Timah) Geniotrigona thoracica, Homotrigona fimbriata, Tetragonula laeviceps; C. F.
Baker 1911 (Bukit Timah) G. thoracica, Heterotrigona itama, Lophotrigona
canifrons, Tetragonula geissleri, Tetrigona apicalis; also (Changi) T. apicalis;
(Seletar) T. apicalis; (Singapore Botanic Gardens) G. thoracica, T. apicalis; H. C.
Abraham 1922 (Mandai) H. itama, T. geissleri; C. B. Kloss 1926 (Singapore Botanic
Gardens) T. apicalis; T. C. Maa 1958 (Nee Soon) T. laeviceps, G. thoracica;
Kawamichi 1974 (Bukit Timah) T. geissleri, T. laeviceps. Wallace records published

16

by Smith (Smith, 1858), Baker and Abraham records by Schwarz (Schwarz, 1939), Maa
and Kawamichi records by Sakagami (Sakagami, 1978).
Historical records of stingless bee diversity available in the literature are patchy
at best, providing inadequate coverage even for the small island of Singapore. No
records exist of their diversity in an assumed pristine habitat before forest clearance in
the early 1800s for gambier plantations. By the time Wallace arrived in 1854, he had to
traverse bare open country to reach remnant patches of primary forest situated at hill
tops (Wallace, 1869). The famous entomologist Charles Fuller Baker (Welles, 1927)
collected from various forest patches scattered around Singapore in 1911, after the
establishment of crown forest reserves in 1889 following recommendations by Cantley
(1883), including the subsequently developed Changi Forest Reserve. Maa and
Kawamichi sampled within modern CCNR after its establishment in 1951 under the
Nature Reserves Ordinance, forerunner of the Park and Trees Act. Local specimens
from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) were not examined due
to the closure of the collection during the course of the present study.
Collections made by various workers, probably through opportunistic netting of
bees from flowers, provide a snapshot of species present in each period. An overall
trend that can be observed from Figure 7 is the decline of stingless bee species present

17

18

Figure 7. Forest cover change maps (1898-2014). Only historical collections made are indicated on map.

over time, in particular of the larger-bodied non-Tetragonula species such as G.

thoracica, H. fimbriata and L. canifrons and recent general sampling in 2001 of bees by
Liow did not find these three species (Liow, 2001). However, to accurately chart the
decline of individual species, consistent, frequent sampling is required.
Examining the biogeography of the Sunda Shelf region, it is expected that there
is a high similarity of stingless bee species between Peninsular Malaysia (to which
Singapore is a part of biogeographically), Sumatra, and Borneo (Fig. 8).These three
land masses have a lower similarity with Java, and the least similarity with Sulawesi.
All the land masses, with the exception of Sulawesi, were connected with land bridges
during the last ice age during the Pleistocene (ca. 12000yrs ago), allowing for the spread
of shared species. Patterns of species similarity between these land masses are mirrored
in snakes and frogs (Inger & Voris, 2001).

Figure 8. Similarity of stingless bee species within Sundaland. Srensen Similarity Index (.00-1.00) = (2 x
number of shared species) / [(no. of species in area A) + (no. of species in area B)]. Figure adapted from
Inger & Voris (2001).

19

It is on the basis that Singapore is part of Peninsular Malaysia,

biogeographically, that Brook and colleagues inferred species loss in Singapore based
on what exists in the whole of Peninsular Malaysia (Brook et al., 2003). Adapting from
their calculations of inferred extinction for various fauna, observed (recorded) and
projected (inferred) species loss was calculated for both stingless bees and non-stingless
bees in Singapore (Fig. 9).
Three scenarios, depicting different
geographical assumptions of shared species,
were used for calculation of inferred species
loss. Scenario (1) follows the original
assumption that species present in Peninsular
Malaysia were once to be found in

Figure 9. Observed and projected stingless bee

species diversity loss in Singapore. Mammals
(MAM); Stingless bees (STB); Rest of the bees
(BEE). Inferred species extinction based on
checklists from: Peninsular Malaysia (1); Johor
+ Melaka + Negeri Sembilan + Pahang (2);
Johor (3), arranged in descending distance from
Singapore. Figure adapted from Brook et al.
(2003.

Singapore. Scenario (2) takes into

consideration states in the lower half of
Peninsular Malaysia, while Scenario (3)

includes only Johor, the nearest Peninsular Malaysian state to Singapore. The inferred
extinction rate for Scenario (1) is not a good representation for the non-stingless bees as
the actual extinction rate is far lower than predicted (data provided by Ascher, J. S.).
Scenario (2) is the most realistic of the three, projecting half of historically recorded
stingless bee species (11 species) to have gone extinct, while only a few non-stingless
bee species are projected to have gone extinct in Singapore. This is expected as species
distributions need not be homogenous between Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia,
assumed by Brook and colleagues from the low species endemism in Singapore
attributed to the narrow Straits of Johor which separates both countries (Brook et al.,
2003). Scenario (3) is extreme, with the inferred extinction for both stingless bees and

20

non-stingless bees implausibly below that of observed extinctions, a result attributable

to the probable historical undersampling of Johor, relative to Singapore.
Even with the reasonable assumption that Singapore shared stingless bee species
with the lower half of Peninsular Malaysian states, as in Scenario (2), it is surprising
that Singapore has had a lower than expected number of historically recorded species.
This suggests that some factors may have had an effect on limiting species distribution
in Singapore. One factor may include a reduction of available nest sites in Singapore
through removal of large trees, a process well underway by the time A. R. Wallace
obtained the first local samples.
A representative distribution of stingless bee nests among living trees of varying
dbh (diameter at breast height ~1.3m) in Sabah, sourced from Eltz et al. (2003), with
additional inputs adapted from Chua et al. (2013), is shown in Figure 6. Eltz and
colleagues found that while stingless bee species did not have preferred tree species for
nest sites, 86.1% of nests were found in trees with dbh > 60cm. This seems to
corroborate the tree core decay study by Panzer (1976), which found about half of trees
larger than 60cm dbh tended to develop trunk hollowness, which translates to potential
nest sites for stingless bees.
The study by Chua et al. (2013), conducted on a 2 ha plot each of primary and
secondary forest in Singapore, found a lack of tree representation of dbh > 60cm in the
top five most common trees in the secondary forest plot (Fig. 10). While the sample of a
2 ha plot does not reflect the absolute absence of trees of dbh > 60 cm, it is a generality
reflective of the bulk of such forests in Singapore. It would mean secondary forests are
able to provide relatively few potential nest sites for stingless bees when compared with
primary forests.

21

One nest each of T. laeviceps and H. itama were found in the Singapore Botanic
Gardens during the course of the study (Appendix II). The T. laeviceps nest was found
in an unidentified tree of dbh 107 cm, while H. itama was found nesting in a Tembusu
tree (Fagraea fragrans) of dbh 147 cm (Fig. 10).

Figure 10. Distribution of stingless bee nests among varying sizes (dbh) of living trees in Sabah (sourced
from Eltz et al., 2003). Diameters of trees housing one nest each of T. laeviceps and H. itama found
locally in the Singapore Botanic Gardens overlayed on tree class sizes. Inverted axis gives a rough
representation of tree size distributions of 2 ha primary and secondary forest plots in Singapore (adapted
from Chua et al. 2013).

3.3 Implications of biology on conservation

3.3.1 Nest site requirements
With the nest site requirement of trunk hollows, the distribution of many
stingless bee species is limited by the availability of trees of sufficient diameter to
provide large hollows to house hives of the species in question. Moreover, the
correlation between trunk diameter, probability of hollowness, and trunk hollow volume,
is not homogenous among tree families, genera, or even species (Eltz et al., 2003).

22

Compounded with the high heterogeneity of tree species within local lowland
dipterocarp forests, it is difficult to reliably estimate of the availability of nest sites in
the remnant forests in Singapore, and through extrapolation, an estimate of the long
term viability of local populations.
3.3.2 Population replenishment
Natural replenishment of species stocks from Peninsular Malaysia, via crossing
the narrow Johor Straits that separates both countries (ca. 600 m) at its narrowest point,
may be expected for large, strong-flying, non-eusocial bees such as Xylocopa but is a
challenge for smaller, weaker-flying, and highly eusocial stingless bees (Michener,
1979), due to their unique nesting biology. During reproductive swarming, newly
emerged virgin queens (gyne) and a portion of older workers seek out a viable nest site.
The site has to be within flight distance from the existing hive as construction materials
(i.e. propolis) for the new nest has to be brought over, which necessitates constant
shuttling between both nests for an extended period. This limits the extent to which
stingless bees can establish a nest across water bodies broader than the maximum flight
distance of the species, which ranges from 600-2600 m depending on body size (Arajo
et al., 2004). A few nests, sealed from the elements, might possibly survive a water
crossing on floating vegetation, for example, but small founder would then be subjected
to inbreeding or extinction due the lack of viable population sizes (see next section).
3.3.3 Vertebrate-like population size
Only the queens of highly eusocial stingless bees (Meliponini) and honey bees
(Apini) are capable of breeding. However, there are differences in reproduction between
the two tribes. Honey bees and stingless bees have a single dominant reproductive
queen, thereby displaying relatively straightforward vertebrate-like population sizes

23

(Romiguier et al., 2014), although under some conditions nests contain a proportion of
egg-laying workers that, being unfertilised, produce only drones.
3.3.4 Nesting biology
One fundamental difference between stingless bees and honey bees, which could
explain differences in their distributional success in Singapore, is in their life strategy
(Chinh, 2004). Stingless bees take longer to develop from egg to adult than honey bees
(40 days vs 20 days), which allows the latter to respond more quickly to environmental
changes. Compared to honey bees, which have the option of moving en masse to
another site should conditions be unfavourable (Dyer & Seeley, 1994), stingless bees
accumulate relatively large stores of honey in permanent nests to tide them through lean
times.
Comparing fecundity, honey bees swarm up to 10 times yearly, while stingless
bees swarm on average once yearly (Chinh, 2004). In honey bees, the existing, old,
queen leaves the established nest with a substantial portion (ca. half) of the workers,
leaving the nest to be inherited by a new queen (Winston, 1987), but in stingless bees
each new gyne leaves with a far smaller proportion of workers (ca. 10-30% of workers)
and the old queen remains in the original nest (Inoue et al., 1984).
Collectively, these differences characterise honey bees as short-term strategists
that exploit seasonal resource abundance, typified by the correlation between the
migration of the giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) and masting events in dipterocarp
forests of Southeast Asia (Itioka et al., 2001), and stingless bees as long term strategists
that focus more on nest maintenance and resource accumulation. In more general terms,
honey bees are poised to exploit dynamic changes in the environment, while stingless
bees are poised to exploit stable environments (Chinh, 2004).

24

A key difference between the historical lowland rainforests which once

blanketed Singapore, and the remnant forests of the present, lies in the stability of the
environment. Forest fragments are more resource unstable as the effects of a reduction
in nest site availability from past forest loss, as well as food resources, are magnified
over a smaller area.
Singapore presents an interesting scenario in that it may be highly urbanised, but
areas outside the forest patches are heavily planted with an assortment of trees and
shrubs, unlike the sparse greenery which characterises other large cities. The managed
greenery provides year round food resource for bees, whereas flowers are scarce in the
forests in unfavourable seasons. It is a paradox that food resources in urban parks, even
that of Gardens by the Bay (built on reclaimed land), are more stable that what is
available in the forests, which are richer and comparatively more stable in terms of nest
site availability.
Both stingless bees and honey bees are able to exploit urban food resources, but
differ in the extent to which they are able to do so. While both are central place foragers,
returning to the same nest between foraging trips, stingless bee nests are restricted to
forests and as such they are not able to exploit food resources beyond their maximum
flight distance from the nest. Honey bees, with their adaptability to nest in urban
environments, are able to extend their collective foraging range beyond the confines of
forests and into non-forested areas (Ricketts, 2004).

25

3.4 Morphometrics
Species diagnosis using descriptive morphological character traits in taxonomy
functions well when traits are discrete, but ambiguity ensues when traits are continuous
and overlaps occur between species. Such is the case for the genus Tetragonula, where
reliable character traits are few and far between, are often difficult to consistently
observe from pinned specimens, and tend not to stand up to scrutiny (Sakagami, 1978).
Sakagami characterised colour of various parts of the bee for species diagnosis, but an
arbitrary system of six colour gradations ranging from the lightest colour hue (pale
fulvous) to the darkest (brownish black to black), with wide colour ranges for species
complexes such as T. laeviceps, with a tendency of colour range overlap between
closely related species, does not allow for confident species diagnosis.
3.4.1 Traditional morphometrics
Sakagami pointed out that the lack of reliable structural characters in
Tetragonula workers was the main difficulty in species diagnosis (Sakagami, 1978).
Consequently, species diagnosis had to depend on non-structural characters such as size.
Sakagami utilised traditional morphometrics to quantify size differences between
species for use in species diagnosis, which involves linear measurements of various
parts of the body (Fig. 11).
The permutations of the scatterplots of different measurements seem to be
highly correlated as evidenced by the constant slope; larger species will have a
proportionately larger body than smaller species. T. fuscobalteata is distinctly the
smallest species in all scatterplots, but size overlaps occur most frequently between T.
pagdeniformis and T. laeviceps, and to a lesser extent T. apicalis and T. itama.
.

26

Figure 11. Body length (BL); head width (HW); wing length (WL1); length
between M/Cu vein junction and base of 1st marginal cell (WL2); hind tibia
length (HTL).

While size ranges can be used for species diagnosis to an extent, overlapping
size ranges between some species limits the utility of traditional morphometrics as a
reliable diagnostic tool. Also, size conveys no information on geometric structure of the
species (Zelditch et al., 2012) and cannot be used to provide specific characters
(characters which distinguish one species from another).
To improve on traditional morphometrics, geometric morphometrics quantifies
shape variation, which allows for the objective comparison of shape (a specific
character) between species. The geometric morphometrics toolkit includes quantitative
shape comparison, as well as visual shape variation representation.

27

Relative wing warps show the direction of shape change between species and
the mean shape (T. laeviceps) through a visual representation of the distortion of a
virtual mesh on which landmarks are placed (Fig. 12). This method can be used to
complement quantitative analysis methods such as principal components analysis,
through an examination of which characters best explain quantitative shape variation
between species, as evidenced by localised distortion of landmarks. This can potentially
lead to the development of reliable character traits for use in species diagnosis (Zelditch
et al., 2012).

Figure 12. Relative warps of the wings of 6 species.

Visual inspection of the relative wing warps is instructive too. T. apicalis and T.
fuscobalteata have extremes of body sizes, with T. apicalis the largest and T.
fuscobalteata the smallest of extant species in Singapore. The two landmarks, circled in
red (Fig. 12), highlight opposing distortions of stigma shape between both species. A

28

strong negative distortion of the stigma shape for T. apicalis, and a slight positive
distortion for T. fuscobalteata, suggests that T. apicalis has a disproportionately smaller
stigma relative to T. fuscobalteata. This finding conforms to the allometric trend
suggested by Danforth (1989) that small Hymenoptera tend to have disproportionately
larger stigmas. Danforth postulated that the mass of the stigma aids in balancing and
stabilizing the forewing as a counterweight, which leads to increased flight efficiency.
However, relative stigma size is not a reliable character for species diagnosis, at least
within the Tetragonula in Singapore. The relative wing warps of three species with
overlapping size ranges, T. geissleri, T. laeviceps, and T. pagdeniformis, do not show
any differences in relative stigma size.
3.4.2 Geometric Morphometrics
Exploratory tools such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) can be used to
summarise the data generated from geometric morphometrics. PCA is used to simplify
the dataset of related shape variables through the combination of likely correlated
variables that account for maximum variance in the data. Used on its own, PCA has
limited usefulness due to lack of critera to test the significance of the species clusters
produced.
However, the generated principal components can be cross validated with the
aforementioned relative wing warps (Fig. 12), to determine if the shape variance from
PCA can help explain biologically significant character differences among species.
3.4.2.1 Principal components analysis (PCA)
PCA was performed on the forewing, forewing veins, hind tibia, and hind
basitarsus, and the first and second principal components displayed in scatterplot graphs
(Fig. 13). The forewing (Fig. 13a), to which PCA is most widely applied within the

29

Hymenoptera (Aytekin et al., 2007; Pretorius, 2005; Villemant et al., 2007), has distinct
clusters for the non-Tetragonula species, H. itama and T. apicalis. T. fuscobalteata and
T. pagdeniformis clusters have some overlap, and T. geissleri and T. laeviceps have a
high overlap in their species clusters. This trend is repeated in a decreasing extent for
the wing veins and hind tibia, while no trend was observed for the hind basitarsus.

Figure 13. Comparison of principal component analysis scatterplots. a. forewing;

b. forewing veins; c. hind tibia; d. hind basitarsus. Percentage variance explained
by each component in brackets.

30

3.4.2.2 Canonical variates analysis

Canonical variates analysis (CVA) was then performed using the reduced
number of variables produced from PCA. A standardised number (10) of principal
components was used, representing an accumulative >95% variance of the data. CVA
was used to determine how much shape variance can be explained for by species. Like
PCA, CVA is an exploratory tool of shape variance, but CVA can be further tested,
such as through the calculation of the percentage of successful species assignment rates
via the jack-knife procedure. This procedure uses each specimen in turn as the test set
against the rest of the specimens (training set), to determine the percentage success rate
of species assignments (Table 3) over a predetermined number of runs (1000 runs).
CVA was performed on the forewing, forewing veins, hind tibia, hind basitarsus,
as well as on measurements made using traditional morphometrics. The first and second
canonical variates were used to plot scatterplot graphs (Fig. 14). As with the PCA
scatterplots, some general trends can be observed. For the forewing, the nonTetragonula species, H. itama and T. apicalis, have distinct clusters while Tetragonula
species clusters have high overlap. As hypothesised, CVA plot for forewing veins had
very high cluster overlap for all species, as the number of homologous landmarks used
(5 points) were few and tightly spaced, which probably led to the inability of the
method to detect small scale shape variation. For both the hind tibia and hind basitarsus,
T. fuscobalteata formed a cluster distinct from other Tetragonula species. This is as
opposed to the close morphological similarity noted by Sakagami between T.
fuscobalteata and T. laeviceps, discounting colour differences (Sakagami, 1978) .
The results of CVA for traditional morphometrics revealed that the first
canonical variate explained a very high percentage (94.17%) of variance in the data,

31

which can be viewed as traditional morphometrics having highly correlated variables.

Most of the variance of size can be explained by species. This supports the assertion
made earlier that traditional morphometrics is limited in its utility for species diagnosis
beyond highly correlated size measures.
3.4.2.3 K-means test
K-means testing was performed in order to test percentage success rate of
species assignments using PCA results. The K-means used in this study randomly
assigned each specimen to one of six a priori determined classes (K=6), to reflect the
number of species tested. The centroid (K-means) of each class was calculated,
followed by the distance of each specimen from the centroid. Each specimen was then
reassigned to the nearest centroid. The process was repeated until no specimens were
reassigned. As with the CVA jack-knife, jack-knifing was done for K-means (1000
runs). The percentage of successful species assignments (Table 3) was calculated from
the consensus of species assignments (Table 2).
A general trend that emerges from examination of K-means species assignments
(Table 2) is the frequent incorrect assignment of specimens belonging to T. geissleri, T.
laeviceps, and to a lesser extent T. pagdeniformis. T. fuscobalteata has the least
incorrect species assignments for Tetragonula, while non-Tetragonula H. itama and T.
apicalis had the least incorrect species assignments overall.
The results of the percentage of successful species assignments were compiled
for both CVA and K-means across both geometric morphometric and traditional
morphology (Table 3). Traditional morphology had the highest successful species
assignments for both CVA and K-means as expected, because of the high correlation
between size and species. Successful assignment rates for CVA were good for the

32

forewing, hind tibia and hind basitarsus, but poor for the wing veins. The same trend is
reflected with K-means assignment rates. K-means assignment rates were lower than
that for CVA as K-means tends to assign equally spaced centroids, and does not deal
well with clusters with high overlaps.

Figure 14. Comparison of canonical variate analysis

scatterplots. a. forewing; b. wing veins; c. hind tibia;
d. hind basitarsus. Percentage variance explained by
each variate in brackets.

33

Table 2. K-means species assignments. Successful in bold, incorrect underlined.

Forewing

Species
H. itama
T. apicalis
T. fuscobalteata
T. geissleri
T. laeviceps
T. pagdeniformis

Wing veins

Species
H. itama
T. apicalis
T. fuscobalteata
T. geissleri
T. laeviceps
T. pagdeniformis

Hind tibia

Species
H. itama
T. apicalis
T. fuscobalteata
T. geissleri
T. laeviceps
T. pagdeniformis

Traditional Morphometrics

Hind basitarsus

Species
H. itama
T. apicalis
T. fuscobalteata
T. geissleri
T. laeviceps
T. pagdeniformis
Species
H. itama
T. apicalis
T. fuscobalteata
T. geissleri
T. laeviceps
T. pagdeniformis

H.
itama
16
0
0
0
0
0
H.
itama

T.
apicalis
0
16
0
0
0
0
T.
apicalis

15
0
0
0
0
0
H.
itama
14
0
0
0
0
0
H.
itama
14
0
0
0
0
0
H.
itama
18
0
0
0
0
0

T.
T.
T.
T.
fuscobalteata geissleri laeviceps pagdeniformis
0
0
11
0
0
0

0
0
0
10
2
1

0
0
0
31
38
8

0
0
1
0
1
13

T.
T.
T.
T.
fuscobalteata geissleri laeviceps pagdeniformis
0
9
0
0
0
0

T.
apicalis

0
0
7
1
0
0

0
0
0
7
0
6

1
7
1
21
22
28

0
0
0
0
0
10

T.
T.
T.
T.
fuscobalteata geissleri laeviceps pagdeniformis

1
15
0
0
0
0

0
0
5
2
2
1

T.
T.
apicalis fuscobalteata
0
9
0
1
18
0
T.
T.
apicalis fuscobalteata
0
0
10
0
0
0
34

0
0
2
3
35
24

0
0
3
5
3
4

T.
T.
T.
geissleri laeviceps pagdeniformis
0
0
9
0
0
0

0
12
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
8
4
1

0
1
0
7
21
4

0
1
0
3
27
2

0
3
1
1
2
11

T.
T.
T.
geissleri laeviceps pagdeniformis
0
0
0
13
0
0

0
0
0
1
70
3

0
0
0
0
8
13

Table 3. Comparison of successful species assignment rates

Geometric Morphometrics
Forewing
Wing veins
Hind tibia
Hind basitarsus
Traditional Morphology

CVA jack-knife

K-means

88.51%
30.41%
85.61%
87.31%
91.89%

70.27%
51.85%
61.36%
57.04%
76.35%

3.4.3 Geometric morphometrics in species diagnosis

Though successful species assignment rates are high for CVA (ca. 85%) across
most characters tested (Table 3), varying degrees of overlap among species clusters
exist within the taxonomically difficult group Tetragonula in PCA (Fig. 13) and CVA
(Fig. 14).
The utility of geometric morphometrics to complement existing morphologicalbased species diagnosis tools remains unrealised in its potential within the current study.
As Zelditch and colleagues noted, the aim of using geometric morphometrics in the
quantification of shape variation is not merely to stop at PCA or CVA to show if species
clusters are significantly different, but to critically examine shape variables that
contribute to each component/variate, and relate that with biologically significant shape
variance, in order to discover character traits that can be used for species diagnosis
(Zelditch et al., 2012).
Based on the results, an assessment of the number of extant species cannot be
made with complete confidence through a quantitative shape analysis of workers alone,
for T. geissleri, T. laeviceps, and T. pagdeniformis, which also overlap in size and
colouration. A more comprehensive method of quantitative shape analysis is 3D

35

geometric morphometrics, which allows for complete shape visualisation. However,

miniaturisation of 3D scanning technology for small subjects such as insects is still in
its infancy (Centeno et al., 2011; Nguyen et al., 2014)
It is recommended that other lines of enquiry be included in species diagnosis
Availability of males and of nests, though more difficult to source than workers, would
permit the examination of male genitalia and the comparative study of nest structures
for these species.

36

4. Conclusion
4.1 Future directions
Future directions include the development of managed colonies of stingless bees
in Singapore for research and education investigation the role of stingless bees in
pollination within local forests, and development of sustainable meliponiculture
(stingless bee keeping) to produce honey in Singapore. One group (Pollen Nation)
currently carrying out the rehabilitation of stingless bee nests (of the small-bodied
adaptable T. laeviceps) from managed structures (i.e. lamp posts) to custom-built nest
sites, seeks to develop both meliponiculture and the establishment of nests in an urban
setting such as roof-top gardens where they could pollinate fruits and vegetables.
The present study provides baseline data for feasibility studies as to the eventual
broader establishment of stingless bee species such as H. itama and T. apicalis, with due
consideration of existing populations and re-establishment of Geniotrigona thoracica
[etc.] if follow-up surveys confirm these to be extirpated from Singapore. Before such
implementations by take place, the present study is necessary to document the present
state of Meliponini distributions in Singapore, before stingless bee rehabilitation and
meliponiculture alters current distributional extent, which may obscure natural patterns
and be undesirable if carried out wrongly.
To reverse the likely trend of declining nest site availability in forests, the
effectiveness of artificial nest sites in the form of hollow plastic containers can be
explored via trap-nest studies for stingless bees, to determine if methods used in the
Neotropics can be adapted for use in Singapore (Oliveira et al., 2013). The general nest
site preferences with regards to tree species for stingless bees, together with the ability

37

of species such as T. laeviceps to adaptively nest in artificial structures such as lamp

posts, is evidence that stingless bees can adapt to artificial nest sites of appropriate size.
Three historically recorded species (G. thoracica, H. fimbriata, and L. canifrons)
were not found during this study. Without more extensive sampling, it cannot be
concluded if they have gone locally extinct. If they had, it can only be speculated in
retrospect if loss of these species could have been prevented. Ethical considerations
remain as to whether reintroductions should be carried out, to bolster existing
populations, or reintroduced if these species are already locally extinct.
Most stingless bee species are neither as resilient nor adaptable as T. laeviceps in
urban Singapore. Forest-bound species such as T. geissleri and T. pagdeniformis may
not cope with artificial nests or an urban environment. To better estimate the availability
of nest sites of these forest dependent species in remnant forest fragments, tree speciesspecific trunk hollow diameters should be measured, and correlated with stingless bee
occupancy. This will help to clarify whether the composition of dominant tree species in
secondary forests, which differs greatly from the dipterocarp dominated primary forests,
is able to sustain viable populations of diverse stingless bees in the long term.
Population genomics has been applied to bees in Singapore (Chua, 2015; Ng,
2015), and can also be used to examine genomic diversity of stingless bees at a local
level, as well as gene flow between colonies. This is to understand population dynamics
of the Singapore population within the context of a fragmented landscape, which will
inform on the long term survivability of forest dependent species in increasingly
deforested environments within the Southeast Asian region.

38

4.2 Concluding remarks

Of 11 stingless bee species recorded historically, 7 were found during the course
of the present study. Species differed in their ability to adapt to the urban environment.
T. laeviceps was the most adaptable, occurring in forests as well as urban parks, while
congeneric T. geissleri and T. pagdeniformis were restricted to the forests of the Central
Catchment Nature Reserve. These three species are morphologically similar, and while
the exploratory geometric morphometrics used in this study did not succeed in finding
any clear character trait differences between them, its potential remains to objectively
compare morphological characters between species, and develop reliable characters for
species delimitation and diagnosis.
Loss of stingless bee species from Singapore (or their decline to undetectable
levels) can be attributed to historical deforestation, which led to reduced nest site
availability in remnant forests. The nesting biology of stingless bees, in particular their
dependency on an old nest for resources necessary to establish a new nest, limits their
dispersal capability and causes them to be uniquely vulnerable to the effects of
deforestation. The compounded effects of the inability to recolonize, lack of immigrants
from major source areas, and inability to exchange genes between forest fragments, may
lead to population inbreeding and eventual extirpation.
While both solitary bees and highly eusocial honey bees are able to move
hibernate or disperse to avoid unfavourable environments and periods of resource dearth,
stingless bees are adapted to endure with stockpiled food resources. Stingless bee
species loss in Singapore, as a result of past deforestation, may be a microcosm of what
is to come if continued deforestation persists in the rest of Southeast Asia. These forest
understorey pollinators may be unique among bees in their vulnerability to

39

anthropogenic extinction, and the loss of their pollination services may have farreaching consequences.

40

5. References
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distance in stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini): Inference of flight range and
possible ecological implications. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 64(3B), 563568.
Ascher, J. S., & Pickering, J. (2015). Discover Life bee species guide and world
checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila).
Ascher, J. S., Soh, Z. W.-W., Lee, J. X. Q., & Soh, E. J. Y. (n.d.). Megachile leaf-cutter
and resin bees of Singapore (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Megachilidae). Accepted in:
Proceedings of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.
Aytekin, M. A., Terzo, M., Rasmont, P., & aatay, N. (2007). Landmark based
geometric morphometric analysis of wing shape in Sibiricobombus Vogt
(Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus Latreille). Annales de La Societe Entomologique
de France (N.S.), 43(1), 95102.
Brook, B. W., Sodhi, N. S., & Ng, P. K. L. (2003). Catastrophic extinctions follow
deforestation in Singapore. Nature, 424, 420423.
Cantley, N. (1883). Report on the Forests of the Straits Settlements. In Proceedings of
the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements (pp. 491556). Singapore:
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Appendices
Appendix I Historical maps of Singapore
Table I-1: Provenance of historical maps used

Year
Year
Title
covered published
1898

1924

1934

1937

1939

Prepared by

Published by

Surveyor
Map Of The Island Of Singapore Colonial Engineer
General's
And Its Dependencies
Office
Office
Geographical
Johore and Singapore
Section, General War Office
Staff
Geographical
Johore and Singapore, 2nd edition Section, General War Office
Staff

Appendix II Nests of Stingless bees

Figure II-1. Nest entrances of stingless bees from the Singapore Botanic Gardens. a: Heterotrigona itama.
b: Tetragonula laeviceps as termitophiles in Nasutitermes sp. (Blattodea: Isoptera) nest.