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Edited by Fernando B Noll -UNESP Neotropical Entomology 38(5):610-615 (2009) ABSTRACT -Eufriesea violacea (Blanchard) is a very seasonal euglossine species, more frequently found in the southern and southeastern regions of Brazil. A number of studies have revealed large variations in the abundance of males of this species present in Atlantic Forest remnants throughout both regions. In this paper, we report variations in the abundance of E. violacea males sampled in several forest patches of different sizes (ranging from 10 to 580 ha), and we propose that this species is possibly sensitive to the reduction in size of forest remnants. Surveys were carried out in nine forest remnants of Atlantic rainforest located in northern Paraná State, southern Brazil. Male euglossine bees were collected with an entomological net when visiting scent-baits, between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, from October to December of 2001 and 2006. A total of 360 E. violacea males were captured in the nine forest fragments studied. The number of bees attracted to scent baits in each forest patch varied from zero to 261. A very high association (r = 0.993) was detected between the forest patch size and the visitation rate of E. violacea males at different sites, with the highest mean number of males visiting baits/sampling (43.5) being observed for bees from the largest forest remnant. Although alternative hypothesis should not be discharged for the decline in the abundance or absence of E. violacea in small forest patches, our results indicate that populations of this euglossine species need larger forest areas for existing.

In this study, both the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of Eufriesea violacea from six Atlantic Forest fragments, located in four Brazilian states, were assessed using microsatellite markers. The results showed that genetic diversity was high in all populations and the genetic differentiation (Φ ST), based on allelic frequency differences, for all population pairwise comparisons was found to be significantly different from zero, indicating from low to moderate genetic differentiation among populations. Considerably higher genetic differentiation values were revealed by the D est estimator, indicating very high levels of differentiation for some pairs of populations. The present results on the population structure of E. violacea suggest a restriction in gene flow among populations from different Atlantic Forest remnants. Thus, considering the intense threats over the current Atlantic Forest remnants, more attention should be paid to populations of this euglossine species. genetic variation / euglossine bees / forest fragments / microsatellites Apidologie (2012) 43:392-402

The present study investigated the level of reproductive skew during the reactivation processes of 11 nests of Euglossa cordata . Behavioral observations associated with kinship analysis between offspring and females involved in these processes were carried out. Different types of associations between females occurred in these reactivations: between mothers and daughters, sisters, cousins, and unrelated females. Behavioral observations and Mendelian segregation analysis at 12 microsatellite loci attributed all the offspring to the dominant female of each nest. The results revealed a full reproductive skew at the different processes of reactivation, irrespective of the type of association between females. Thus, our data indicate that reproductive skew was not associated with genetic relatedness in E. cordata .Euglossa / reproductive skew / sociogenetic structure / microsatellites

-The incidence of diploid males among 1457 individuals of different populations of six euglossine bee species (Eufriesea violacea , Eulaema cingulata , Euglossa annectans , Euglossa iopoecila , Euglossa pleosticta and Euglossa truncata ) was investigated with microsatellite markers. Bees were surveyed in Atlantic Forest fragments showing different sizes and degrees of human interference. Our analyses revealed that, although the frequencies of diploid males remained below 10 % for five out of six species studied, the frequencies of these males in three populations of Eg. annectans were above 15.0 %. For this species, while the average estimate of diploid males was around 11.0 %, the highest percentage (27 %) of such males was found for the population from an island. Our findings indicate that the frequency of diploid males can vary substantially among species and this fact should be taking into consideration in studies and conservation actions involving different euglossine bees. microsatellites / Euglossini / euglossine bees / Euglossa annectans / forest fragments

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Euglossa fimbriata is a euglossine species widely distributed in Brazil and occurring primarily in Atlantic Forest remnants. In this study, the genetic mitochondrial structure of E. fimbriata from six Atlantic Forest fragments was studied by RFLP analysis of three PCR-amplified mtDNA gene segments (16S, COI-COII, and cyt b). Ten composite haplotypes were identified, six of which were exclusive and represented singleton mitotypes. Low haplotype diversity (0.085-0.289) and nucleotide diversity (0.000-0.002) were detected within samples. AMOVA partitioned 91.13% of the overall genetic variation within samples and 8.87% (phi(st) = 0.089; P < 0.05) among samples. Pairwise comparisons indicated high levels of differentiation among some pairs of samples (phi(st) = 0.161-0.218; P < 0.05). These high levels indicate that these populations of E. fimbriata, despite their highly fragmented landscape, apparently have not suffered loss of genetic variation, suggesting that this particular population is not currently endangered.

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