Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Department of Botany, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Microsc Res Tech. 2022 Jul;85(7):2361-2380. doi: 10.1002/jemt.24091. Epub 2022 Mar 5.
This research aimed to explore the melliferous bee flora pollen from arid zones of District Attock, Islamabad Capital and Rawalpindi. Morpho-palynological features has provided key information for the classification and help to explain the taxonomy of several genera and species. Therefore, in this work, we examined the morphological characters of pollen potentially to be used for the species delimitation of bee flora. A total of 18 bee floral species, classified into 12 different families were collected, pressed, identified and then acetolyized to observe the grains under microscopy. Bee pollen can be described by small, medium to large sized morphotypes presenting five types of shapes, prolate spheroidal in (seven species), sub-prolate (six species), oblate spheroidal (three species), oblate and prolate (one species each) was examined. The observed polar and equatorial diameter were found maximum in Zea mays 73.5 μm and Pelargonium inquinans 66.75 μm respectively. Pollen of six different types was found namely: tricolporate, 3-zonocolporate, monoportae, tetracolporate, tetraporate and mononsulcate. Whereas highest value of colpi length was measured in Grewia tenax (24.55 μm). Exine surface nature of pollen was examined echinate psilate and scabrate. Exine thickness noted to be maximum in Verbena tenuisecta (8.40 μm) and minimum in Citrus macrocarpa (0.4 μm). Bee floral species considered difficult to identify based on other morphological traits were successfully distinguished using pollen quantitative and qualitative traits, confirming the importance of pollen morphology to diagnose characters to correctly identify honeybee flora. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Pollen diversity among honeybee flora. Highly variations observed via microscopy in pollen micromorphology. Palyno-morph has taxonomic value for the identification of honeybee floral species.
本研究旨在探索阿托克地区、伊斯兰堡首都区和拉瓦尔品第的干旱地区的蜜源蜜蜂区系花粉。形态-孢粉学特征为分类提供了关键信息，并有助于解释几个属和种的分类学。因此，在这项工作中，我们检查了花粉的形态特征，这些特征可能用于蜜蜂区系的物种划分。共采集、压制、鉴定了 18 种蜜蜂花卉物种，分为 12 个不同科，然后用乙酰化方法观察显微镜下的花粉粒。蜜蜂花粉可以根据小、中到大的形态类型来描述，呈现出五种形状，其中 7 种为长球形，6 种为次长球形，3 种为扁球形，1 种为扁长球形和长球形。观察到的极轴和赤道直径分别在玉米 73.5μm 和天竺葵 66.75μm 中最大。发现六种不同类型的花粉，分别为：三孔沟、3-周孔沟、单孔沟、四孔沟、四孔沟和单沟。而在 Grewia tenax 中测量到的沟长值最高（24.55μm）。花粉外壁表面性质为具刺粒状和粒状。Verbena tenuisecta 的外壁厚度最大（8.40μm），Citrus macrocarpa 的最小（0.4μm）。基于其他形态特征难以识别的蜜蜂花卉物种，通过花粉定量和定性特征成功区分，证实了花粉形态对诊断特征和正确识别蜜蜂花卉的重要性。研究亮点：蜜蜂区系花粉多样性。花粉微形态在显微镜下观察到高度变异。孢粉形态对鉴定蜜蜂花卉物种具有分类学价值。
