Genetic structure of Partamona helleri (Apidae, Meliponini) from Neotropical Atlantic rainforest

Abstract

Stingless bees of the genus Partamona are distributed from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. This genus has been subject to different approaches to solve questions concerning general biology, taxonomy, systematics and biogeography, but population studies applying molecular techniques are inexistent. We analyzed the genetic structure of P. helleri across its geographic distribution along the coastal Atlantic tropical rainforest in Brazil. Ten mtDNA haplotypes were observed in 47 colonies of P. helleri of which some were exclusive and others shared among geographic sub-groups. Statistical analysis showed high genetic differentiation between geographic areas sampled. Fragmentation of the Atlantic forest during Pleistocene glaciations is discussed as a possible cause of the present haplotype distribution and frequency.

Mitochondrial DNA variability in populations of Centris aenea (Hymenoptera, Apidae), a crop-pollinating bee in Brazil

“…Relatively few genetic studies have investigated bee species within other genera, such as Plebeia remota (Francisco et al, 2001), Eufrisea violacea (Sofia et al, 2005), Macrotera portalis (Danforth et al, 2003), Tetragonisca angustula (Oliveira et al, 2004), Partamona helleri (Brito and Arias, 2010), Partamona seridoensis (Fernandes et al, 2012), Melipona subnitida (Cruz et al, 2006), and Euglossa fimbriata (Suzuki et al, 2010). Some of these studies have used PCR-RFLP (Francisco and Arias, 2010;Brito and Arias, 2010;Suzuki et al, 2010) revealing interesting information that has allowed researchers to distinguish populations.…”

Characterization of microsatellite loci for the stingless bee Scaura latitarsis (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)

“…The species is widely distributed in tropical South America, with records in the following countries: Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (Camargo and Pedro 2012). The large geographic distribution and the well reported female philopatric behavior in stingless bees (Nogueira-Neto 1954, Brito and Arias 2010, Francisco and Arias 2010 suggest that S. latitarsis populations should be highly differentiated. In general, population studies apply combined molecular markers of nuclear and cytoplasm origins.…”

Caracterização populacional de Mourella caerulea (Friese, 1900) e Plebeia nigriceps (Friese, 1901) (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) através de morfometria geométrica da asa, análise de hidrocarbonetos cuticulares e DNA mitocondrial

“…Entre eles há estudos de diversidade genética em populações de Plebeia remota (Francisco et al, 2008, Francisco & Arias, 2010Francisco et al, 2013), estrutura populacional de Partamona helleri (Brito & Arias, 2010), baixa diversidade mitocondrial em Partamona mulata (Brito et al, 2013), hibridização entre…”

“…Outros trabalhos com meliponíneos encontraram valores inferiores (Brito & Arias, 2010;Francisco & Arias, 2009;Assis, 2010;Gonçalves, 2010).…”

“…Em M. quadrifasciata a diversidade nucleotídica de COI foi de 0.00547 (Batalha-Filho et al, 2010), em M. subnitida 0.00543 (para o COI) , em Partamona helleri 0.0021 (RFLP de vários genes mitocondriais) (Brito & Arias, 2010), em Partamona mulata (COI e Cyt B concatenados) (0,00137) (Brito et al, 2013) e em Plebeia remota 0,0082 (RFLP do genoma mitocondrial) (Francisco & Arias, 2010 A correlação entre distância genética e distância geográfica (r=0,50, p<0,05) indica isolamento por distância em M. caerulea (Telles & Diniz-Filho, 2005). Tal fato pode ser explicado pelas características próprias do grupo.…”