The parameters for assessing the quality of honey produced by Apis mellifera are standardized worldwide. The physicochemical properties of honey might vary extensively due to factors such as the geographical area where it was produced and the season in which it was harvested. Little information is available on variations in honey quality among different harvest periods in tropical areas, and particularly in neotropical dry forests. This study describes variations in seventeen physicochemical parameters and the pollen diversity of honey harvested from beehives during the dry season in February, March, and April 2021, in the dry arc of Panama. Potassium is the most abundant mineral in honey samples, and its concentration increases during the harvest period from February to April. A PCA analysis showed significant differences among the samples collected during different harvest periods. The pollen diversity also differs among honey samples from February compared with March and April. The results indicate that climatic conditions may play an important role in the quality of honey produced in the dry arc of Panama. Furthermore, these results might be useful for establishing quality-control parameters of bee honey produced in Panama in support of beekeeping activities in seasonal wet–dry areas of the tropics.

A taxonomic revision of the genus Scolia Fabricius, 1775 (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae) from Central America is presented. Two species of Scolia are present in Central America: S. (Discolia) guttata Burmeister, 1853 and S. (Hesperoscolia) rufiventris Fabricius, 1804, the latter representing the first record for Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. The male of S. rufiventris is described and illustrated for the first time. Seasonal flight activity for S. guttata from two years of continuous Malaise trapping in Barro Colorado Island, Panama, is described.

Coloration anomalies are widespread across the animal kingdom; however, they pass underreported for some taxa or are extremely rare, like in the case of mammals. Three of those anomalies are albinism, leucism, and erythrism, each of which generates atypical colorations in white with white spots and reddish-brown, respectively. Here, we report five cases of coloration anomalies in mammals from Panama: 1) albinism in the Derby’s woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus Waterhouse, 1841), the lowland Paca (Cuniculus paca Linnaeus, 1766), and the variegated squirrel (Echinosciuris variegatoides Ogilby, 1839). 2) leucism in the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata J. E. Gray, 1842), and 3) erythrism in the northern Tamandua (Tamandua mexicana Saussure, 1860). We discuss some implications of these observations and the importance of gathering this type of data for developing more complex studies in the future.

A list of Scoliidae species recorded in Panama is presented. Considering the recent taxonomic updates made on this tribe of wasps, as well as the lack of a formal study on its geographical distribution, richness, and species diversity in Panama, this study aimed to document the existing species in the country. Based on literature records and an examination of 383 specimens, we found a total of 13 species and 7 genera. The following two species and one subspecies are recorded for the first time in Panama: Dielis tolteca (Saussure, 1857), Pygodasis hyalina (Saussure, 1864), and Pygodasis ephippium wagneriana (Saussure, 1864).

This work discusses the criteria proposed to consider wild bees as bioindicators and specifically applied to orchid bees in neotropical forests. Some of the issues are: 1) the deficiencies of the sampling methods, which makes it difficult to accurately assess species inventories. 2) missing knowledge about the biology of many species. 3) spatial or temporal distribution of most species remains unknown, which may misslead the results of short-term studies. 4) It is not clear whether orchid bees are affected by climate change as seen in other bees, which weakens their predictive potential. 5) A measure of the economic benefits provided by orchid bees is needed to better appraise them and their conservation. Finally, future studies should develop predictive models for conservation, accounting for evolutionary aspects like phylogeny or distributions; together with studies of the effect of disturbance on the physiology of the bees.

Watermelon is a crop highly dependent on bees for pollination, and environmental conditions are some of the most important factors affecting bee foraging. In this study, we analyze the effect of environmental conditions on the behavior of the most common bees visiting flowers of watermelon crops in Panama. We recorded the number of visits, visit duration, and the corresponding environmental conditions during the visits. Environmental conditions affected the observed groups of bees differently: honey bee visit proportion was remarkably higher at low temperatures, solar radiation, wind speed, and high relative humidity, early in the morning when they made about 90% of their flower visits. The other observed bees showed a more homogenous behavior during the day, with peaks representing about 25-35% of the daily visits. Visit number showed a correlation with temperature for all the most common bees except Augochloropsis spp., with solar radiation for A. mellifera and Lasioglossum spp., with humidity for all except Lasioglossum spp., and with wind speed for all of the analyzed bees. Visit durations were remarkably longer in N. perilampoides early on the day. At the same time, the rest of the bees showed less pronounced duration peaks, reaching their maximum at intermediate values of environmental conditions. Visit duration on honeybees did not correlate with environmental factors, but it did for most other bees. Environmental conditions showed a strong effect on the bee foraging behavior, with each group of bees concentrating their activities in favorable conditions depending on their biology, establishing their daily foraging patterns.