The composition of Gut microflora of stingless honey bee (Apidae: Tetragonula spp.) from Dharangaon taluka of Jalgaon district

Abstract Stingless bees are the main pollinators in tropical regions because they entirely rely on flowers for nectars and pollen to feed their larvae. They help in pollinating many forests and are valued pollinators in biodiversity. Tetragonula /Trigona is known as the largest genera of stingless bees comprising 32 species worldwide and (meliponini) is by far the largest group of eusocial bees on earth with more than 500 described species and 43 species occurring in the Asian region. In a sterile environment, we surface-sterilized the bees in 75% alcohol for 20 s and then washed them with sterile water. Finally, the entire gut was removed from the abdomen of the bee. The sample was homogenized with one ml of Insect saline solution. 16S RNA analysis was performed by outsourcing service from the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram. The results showed that the gut of stingless bees contained the bacteria of the Priestia genus