Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) at risk in western Mexico

The current global pollinator crisis highlights the need to investigate
the diversity and distribution of ecologically and socially relevant taxa
such as tropical stingless bees. We analyzed the diversity and composition
of stingless bee (Meliponini) communities at a regional scale in
west-central Mexico using an extensive direct search along an altitudinal
gradient encompassing different climate and vegetation types. Our
hypothesis was that meliponine bee diversity would be greater in tropical
warmer. We found a total of 14 meliponine bee species, including
two new records for the region. We identified three types of bee
assemblages: one in hot lowland climates with tropical dry forest
vegetation, one in temperate highland climates with mixed oak-pine forest
vegetation, and one in the warm ecotone with mixed subdeciduous forest
vegetation between the hot and temperate zones. As expected, the lowland
assemblage in the tropical dry forest vegetation had the greatest
diversity (11 species). In the warm ecotone, meliponine species
from temperate highlands and hot lowland habitats converged; this region
should therefore be considered a high conservation priority area. Fifty
percent of the meliponine bees found are endemic and have a very low
incidence, suggesting that their populations may be endangered. Given the
extensive and ongoing change of land use to avocado plantations in the
warm ecotone and temperate highlands with mixed oak-pine forest vegetation
cover, specific conservation plans should be generated to conserve the
natural ecosystems and this important native pollinator group.This data
set provides the information about Melliponin sampling in Michoacan,
Mexico during 2018-2019. It provides the locality name, altitude,
vegetation type and climate per sampling site.

当前全球传粉者危机凸显了研究兼具生态与社会重要性的类群（如热带无刺蜂）的多样性与分布格局的迫切需求。
我们针对墨西哥中西部区域，沿涵盖不同气候与植被类型的海拔梯度开展大范围直接调查，以此分析该区域无刺蜂（Meliponini，麦蜂族）群落的多样性与组成。本研究的假说为：麦蜂族蜂类的多样性在温暖的热带区域更高。
本次调查共记录到14种麦蜂族蜂类，其中2种为该区域的新分布记录。我们识别出三类蜂类集群：一类分布于热带干旱森林植被覆盖的炎热低地气候区，一类分布于混生栎-松林植被覆盖的温带高地气候区，还有一类分布于炎热与温带区域之间、植被为混生半落叶林的温暖过渡带。
正如预期，热带干旱森林植被覆盖的低地集群多样性最高（共含11个物种）。在温暖过渡带，来自温带高地与炎热低地生境的麦蜂物种发生交汇；因此该区域应被视为高度优先保护区域。
本次发现的麦蜂类群中，50%为特有种且种群出现率极低，这表明其种群或已濒临灭绝。
鉴于温暖过渡带与混生栎-松林植被覆盖的温带高地区域正持续大规模转为牛油果种植园，亟需制定针对性保护计划以保护当地自然生态系统与这一重要的本土传粉者类群。
本数据集提供了2018-2019年间在墨西哥米却肯州开展的麦蜂族采样相关信息，涵盖各采样点的地点名称、海拔、植被类型与气候类型。