Stingless Bees Conference

An International Meliponine Scientific Conference was successfully held in Selangor, Malaysia in May, organised by Akadeni Kelulut Malaysia, Malaysia Genome Institute, Institute Kajian Dasar and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Centre for Insect Systematics). The Co-ordinator was Abu Hassan Jalil, an advocate of stingless bee conservation and Mr Mohd Razif Mamat of the Genome Institute. Participants came from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Panama, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and USA.

Programme

Dr David Roubik lectured on How advances in stingless bee research may influence the Meliponine industry, Prof Dr Deborah Smith presented on What Melpioniculture culture can learn from Apiculture and Prof Dr Cleofas Cervancia on Proposed standards for tropical honey. Distinguished retired bee scientist, Dr Mercedes Delfinado-Baker was also present during the conference.

A Forum was held on the World of Meliponines, chaired by Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Makhdzir Mardan, with Prof Dr Mohd Mansor Ismail as Moderator with forum delegates Dr Roubik, Prof Dr Smith and Prof Dr Cervancia.

Conference

Topics included pollination, biophysics, chemistry, meliponitheraphy, genomics, economics and engineering in meliponiculture. Workshops consisted of Identification of stingless bees using simple keys, Digital reconstruction of Meliponine anatomical parts, Methods of processing bee-bread and propolis, Preparation of honey samples for NMR analysis, Application of Meliponitherapy, Innovations in wooden box hive construction, Innovations in honey suction pumps, Bee products developed for cosmeceuticals and pharmaceuticals and Using coconut shells as hives for stingless bees.

Conference particpants

Launch

Three books were launched: Handbook of Meliponiculture – Indo-Malayan Stingless Bees, a compendium of articles from over 40 contributors from more than 10 different countries (edited by Dr Roubik and Abu Hassan Jalil) with its translated Malay language version in three volumes, World Meliponine etymology of taxonomic nomenclature and Meliponine identifier pictorial guide – Indo-Malayan stingless bees.

Carnival

The Carnival included an exhibition and sales expo with competitions for commercial bee products, box hive design and the highlight a Meliponine Honey Ranking Contest. Honey samples were submitted from three countries. The top ranked honey was a Lepidotrigona terminata sample and second a Tetragonula testaceitarsis sample, both from Thailand. The honey submissions were ranked according to aroma, colour and taste, an NMR analysis of constituents and overall packaged appearance.

Posters

The winning poster was Floral calendar for stingless bee, Tetragonula iridipennis Smith (Apidae, Meliponinae) in Peninsular India (B V Shweta, G C Kuberappa, R K Thakur and M S Reddy).

Closure

The Conference ended after a series of public talks from several Malaysian government agencies on standards, restrictions and regulatory acts. Among these were the honey standards being prepared by MARDI, the good beekeeping standards (MYGAP) by the Department of Agriculture, labelling laws for honey packaging, Halal certification by JAKIM and the Wildlife Conservation Act by the Malaysian Wild Life Department to elaborate on the conservation of wild life predators to Meliponines.

Professor Cleofas Cervancia, President Apimondia Regional Commission for Asia

Photos © Cleo Cervancia/Abu Hassan Jalil