Stingless bees are important pollinators and producers of honey used in folk medicine. We investigate the nectar sources for two Afrotropical stingless bee species, Hypotrigona araujoi and Meliponula ferruginea. Pollen was extracted and processed using next‐generation sequencing (NGS) methods, DNA metabarcoding. Results show that stingless bees visited 32 plant genera. Wild plants were the major nectar sources for the two stingless bees' species. The diversity of plants visited and honey physical–chemical characteristics differed between the two bee species, suggesting that they use comparable spectra of host plants. This information should help prioritise the conservation of identified forage plants.

中文翻译：

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桑给巴尔（坦桑尼亚）两种同域非洲热带无刺蜂的寄主植物的分类模式及其对蜂蜜特性的影响

无刺蜂是重要的传粉媒介和用于民间医学的蜂蜜生产者。我们调查了两种非洲热带无刺蜂品种的花蜜来源，南三棱草和铁锈蜂。使用下一代测序 (NGS) 方法、DNA 元条形码提取和处理花粉。结果显示，无刺蜂拜访过 32 个植物属。野生植物是这两种无刺蜂的主要花蜜来源。两种蜜蜂物种之间所访问的植物多样性和蜂蜜物理化学特性不同，表明它们使用了可比较的寄主植物光谱。这些信息应有助于优先保护已确定的饲料植物。