First discovery of a rare polygyne colony in the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata (Apidae, Meliponini)

Alves, Denise A.; Menezes, Cristiano; Imperatriz-Fonseca, Vera Lúcia; Wenseleers, Tom

doi:10.1051/apido/2010053

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…Only the primers designed for M. bicolor were successful. With the purpose of studying the genetic variation of M. scutellaris colonies that were founded by only two colonies and multiplied for a period of 10 years in an apiary outside the natural area of occurrence of the species, Alves et al (2010) . mellifera, in M. scutellaris, and Lopes et al (2009), with markers for M. rufiventris, in Partamona helleri, the success in the use of heterologous primers is lower in phylogenetically more distant species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various studies have demonstrated the possibility of using heterologous markers in plants (Gidugli et al, 2010, Chu et al, 2010), vertebrates (Bench et al, 2010Mantellato et al, 2010) and invertebrates (Daly et al, 2002). In bees, these markers have been used in analyses of populations (Carvalho-Zilse et al, 2009) and for examining intracolonial genetic structure (Alves et al, 2009(Alves et al, , 2010.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transferability of microsatellite primers developed for stingless bees to four other species of the genus Melipona

Viana¹,

Miranda²,

Francisco³

et al. 2011

Genet. Mol. Res.

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ABSTRACT. Microsatellite markers are a useful tool for ecological monitoring of natural and managed populations. A technical limitation is the necessity for investment in the development of primers. Heterologous primers can provide an alternative to searching for new loci. In bees, these markers have been used in populational and intracolonial genetic analyses. The genus Melipona has the largest number of species among bee genera, about 70, occurring throughout the Neotropical region. However, only five species of the genus Melipona have specific microsatellite markers. Given the great diversity of this genus, this number is not representative. We analyzed the transferability of 49 microsatellite loci to four other species of the genus Melipona (M. scutellaris, M. mondury, M. mandacaia, and M. quadrifasciata). Four individuals of each species, from different localities, were used in amplification tests. Primer pairs described for five Melipona species and for Trigona carbonaria were tested. Among the 49 loci, ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 10 (4): 3942-3947 (2011) Transferability of microsatellite primers among Melipona 3943 22 gave amplification products for all four species, while three gave nonspecific bands and five showed no amplification products. The remaining loci varied in the pattern of amplification, according to the species examined. The number of alleles ranged from 1 to 6. The results demonstrate the possibility of using these heterologous markers in other Melipona species, increasing the number of loci that can be analyzed and contributing to further genetic analyses of intra-and intercolonial structure, which is required for conservation measure planning, genetic improvement and resolution of taxonomic problems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transferability of microsatellite primers developed for stingless bees to four other species of the genus Melipona

Viana¹,

Miranda²,

Francisco³

et al. 2011

Genet. Mol. Res.

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“…Witter and Wittmann (1997) described a polygynic colony in Plebeia wittmanni in which a new queen started oviposition while the older one was still alive and laying eggs. Carvalho-Zilse and Kerr (2004) reported a similar case for M. scutellaris, and recently Alves et al (2010) reported on a polygynic colony of M. quadrifasciata in which eight egg-laying queens coexisted in a colony for ca. four months.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Prediction of social structure and genetic relatedness in colonies of the facultative polygynous stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

2011

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Stingless bee colonies typically consist of one single-mated mother queen and her worker offspring. The stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera: Apidae) shows facultative polygyny, which makes this species particularly suitable for testing theoretical expectations concerning social behavior. In this study, we investigated the social structure and genetic relatedness among workers from eight natural and six manipulated colonies of M. bicolor over a period of one year. The populations of M. bicolor contained monogynous and polygynous colonies. The estimated genetic relatedness among workers from monogynous and polygynous colonies was 0.75 ± 0.12 and 0.53 ± 0.16 (mean ± SEM), respectively. Although the parental genotypes had significant effects on genetic relatedness in monogynous and polygynous colonies, polygyny markedly decreased the relatedness among nestmate workers. Our findings also demonstrate that polygyny in M. bicolor may arise from the adoption of related or unrelated queens.

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“…), apart from the Trigona-group (Trigonini), comprising all remaining genera of Meliponini (e.g., Moure, 1961). Melipona is the sole stingless bee genus where polygynic colonies (multiple queens) are known (Bego, 1989;Alves et al, 2011); these bees are also unique for the breeding queens, males and workers in identical cells, instead of having distinctly larger royal cells as in the other Meliponini (Michener, 1974;Engels & Imperatriz-Fonseca, 1990); and the occurrence of worker parasitism related to male production (Alves et al, 2009) and alien queens infiltrate colonies whose own queen had recently died . A robust phylogenetic framework for the Meliponini can make possible the investigation of the unique traits of Melipona, which might be autapomorphic for these bees, or be better interpreted as retention of plesiomorphic states in some cases.…”

Section: Fascinating Behavioral Variation and The Need Of Comparativementioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Eusociality in Bees while Trusting the Uncertainty

Almeida¹,

Porto²

2014

Sociobiology

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particularly with Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758 -the honeybee. This has long been a species with close proximity of mankind (the species of Apis are distributed all over the Old World), with economic interest because of honey production (pollination became a hotly debated topic more recently, e.g., Oldroyd, 2007; Cameron et al., 2010; Potts et al., AbstractPhylogenetic hypotheses and estimates of divergence times have already been used to investigate the evolution of social behavior in all lineages of bees. The interpretation of the number of origins of eusocial behavior and the timing of these events depends on reliable phylogenetic hypotheses for the clades in which these lineages are nested. Three to six independent origins of eusocial behavior are interpreted to have occurred in bee taxa that differentiated in the Late Cretaceous, or much later in the Paleogene. Only two groups of bees exhibit the behaviors that qualify their members to be considered obligate (i.e. 'fixed-caste') eusocial, the honey bees (Apini) and the stingless bees (Meliponini). The evolutionary history of corbiculate bees remains uncertain in many respects, but phylogenetic research has been paving the path for comprehensive comparative approaches likely to shed light on the origin of diversity of forms and behaviors of these bees. In total, corbiculate bees encompass about 1,000 species, roughly 5% of the described species diversity of bees. These bees are rather heterogeneous in terms of social organization, particularly stingless bees and orchid bees, which display a fascinating range of behavioral variation. Using phylogenetic tools, it has been possible to infer that caste polymorphism, division of labor and other traits of corbiculate bees probably started evolving over 80 million years ago. Phylogenetic hypotheses must be interpreted as more or less uncertain scenarios for studying the biological diversity, but when trusted they can provide powerful tools to investigate the evolution of social behaviors.

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First discovery of a rare polygyne colony in the stingless bee Melipona quadrifasciata (Apidae, Meliponini)

Cited by 15 publications

References 17 publications

Transferability of microsatellite primers developed for stingless bees to four other species of the genus Melipona

Transferability of microsatellite primers developed for stingless bees to four other species of the genus Melipona

Prediction of social structure and genetic relatedness in colonies of the facultative polygynous stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Investigating Eusociality in Bees while Trusting the Uncertainty

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