Abstract

The low level, denuded, laterite landscape of coastal Uttara Kannada has a rich diversity of monsoon herbs, including threatened and newly discovered ones. Our study reveals that honeybees congregate on the ephemeral herb community of Utricularias, Eriocaulons and Impatiens during their gregarious monsoon flowering period. Apis dorsata had highest visitations on Utricularias, Impatiens, and Flacourtia indica, whereas Trigona preferred on Eriocaulons. Laterite herb flora merits conservation efforts as keystone food resources for insect community especially for honeybees.

Keywords: Laterite, flower visitation, honeybee, keystone.