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

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Centris spp are oil-collecting solitary bees that are valuable pollinators of crops such as Brazil nut, cashew, and acerola. We investigated the genetic variability of populations of C. aenea in the northeastern region of Brazil. Total DNA was extracted from 59 individuals from 6 locations in the States of Pernambuco and Bahia and a 600-650-bp fragment of the mitochondrial COI/COII region amplified by PCR, followed by digestion with the restriction enzymes DraI and SspI. PCR-RFLP analysis revealed eight different haplotypes among the populations. Haplotype A1, revealed by DraI, was the most frequent (50%), and haplotypes A3 and A4 were exclusive to Feira de Santana, Bahia and Morro do Chapéu, Bahia, respectively. Among the haplotypes revealed by SspI, B2 was the most frequent (37%) and B3 was exclusive to Feira de Santana. This information revealing high haplotype diversity will be useful for developing management strategies for Centris, especially because of increasing interest in the rearing and/ or relocation of these bees for crop pollination.

Genetic analyses reveal female philopatric behavior and nest usage by multiple females of the solitary oil-collecting bee Tetrapedia diversipes (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

“…This same scenario and biological interpretation have been commonly reported for several eusocial bee species (Yanega 1990;Francisco and Arias 2009;Brito and Arias 2010;Bonatti et al 2014;Francisco et al 2016b). Primitively eusocial and solitary bees are generally not philopatric (Kim et al 2008;Francisco et al 2016a;Rosa et al 2016;Luna-Lucena et al 2017;Toledo et al 2017), but some exceptions have been reported (Ferreira et al 2013;López-Uribe et al 2014Penha et al 2015). Moreover, the gene flow between the two distinct groups (BCIN and CU) recognized in the haplotype network may be affected by Serra do Mar, a mountain range across the Atlantic rainforest in the coastal areas from Southeastern towards Southern Brazil (Figures 1 and 2).…”