Evidence for morphological and genetic structuring of Plebeia flavocincta (Apidae: Meliponini) populations in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Tropical dry forests are increasingly threatened by human activities. In Northeast Brazil, the Caatinga, an area of tropical dry forests surrounded by wetlands, is considered globally unique among these habitats. In this region, the stingless bee Plebeia flavocincta is found in a variety of environmental, ecological, and demographic conditions. We aimed to characterize P. flavocincta populations within its natural range through wing geometric morphometrics and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses. The characterization of population variability can clarify whether the species is morphologically and genetically diverse and whether populations are morphologically and genetically structured. We analyzed 673 samples by wing morphometry and 75 by cytochrome-b assays. Our results revealed P. flavocincta is genetically and morphologically diverse and populations are morphologically and genetically structured. Despite the differentiation between the two most morphologically distant populations, we verified a large overlap of morphological variation between all populations. The genetic analysis showed that the haplotypes were geographically structured into six clusters, four of which were located in coastal areas, and the remaining two in the drier inland region. The characterization of P. flavocincta populations is an important step toward decision-making in programs for the protection, management, and sustainable use of this stingless bee in local breeding efforts.

Geoclimatic drivers of diversification in the largest arid and semi‐arid environment of the Neotropics: Perspectives from phylogeography

“…However, synchronous population expansions in both Caatinga reptiles and amphibians have been detected in the late Pleistocene (118–224 kya), potentially coinciding with an expansion in Caatinga habitat (Gehara et al., 2017). Studies on insects (Andrade‐Souza et al., 2017; Barrios‐Leal et al., 2019; Bonatti et al., 2014; Maia et al., 2022; Miranda et al., 2017) and plants (Balbino et al., 2018; Caetano et al., 2008) also generally show Pleistocene climate change effects. The exact patterns and mechanisms of Pleistocene climate change in the Caatinga are still unclear (Colli‐Silva et al., 2021); the proposed Pleistocene Arc Hypothesis (Prado & Gibbs, 1993) is a popular explanation but has seen only mixed support in phylogeographic studies (see later section).…”

A systemic fungicide might reduce the male genitalia of a stingless bee species by one-third

“…Since geometric morphometrics is a reliable tool for evaluating subtle variations in the shape and size of bee structures (Lima et al 2016;Galaschi-Teixeira et al 2018;Maia et al 2022), here, we selected 16 landmarks (LMs) for geometric morphometrics (Fig. 1), and manually digitized the images twice using tpsdig2 (Rohlf 2005).…”