New stingless bee genus endemic to Central American cloudforests: phylogenetic and biogeographic implications (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

Abstract

Meliwillea bivea gen.n., sp.n. is the only known stingless bee genus endemic to Central America. External morphology and male genitalia show affinity of Meliwillea with Scaptotrigona. Its plesiomorphies and current sympatry with Scaptotrigona suggest Meliwillea is relictual and diverged in montane habitat during the Tertiary, predating the Pleistocene connection between Central and South America which allowed immigration by Scaptotrigona. Addition of Meliwillea to the list of Neotropical genera changes the phylogenetic position of Nannotrigona, making it sister to Paratrigona instead of Scaptotrigona.

Molecular phylogeny of the stingless bees (Apidae, Apinae, Meliponini) inferred from mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequences

“…Sequence data from the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene have been used previously at higher-level phylogenetic studies within the order Hymenoptera (Cameron, 1991(Cameron, , 1993Derr et al 1992a, b;Austin, 1994, 2001;Dowton et al, 1997;Koulianos et al, 1999;Cameron and Mardulyn, 2001). In the present study, we used 16S rDNA sequence data to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among 22 of the 56 genera of Meliponini recognized by Camargo and Pedro (1992a) and Roubik et al (1997).…”

“…Camargo and Pedro (1992a) reanalyzed the same characters and proposed an alternative hypothesis in which 55 genera were recognized. More recently a new genus, Meliwillea, endemic to Central American cloud forests was described by Roubik et al (1997). Both phylogenetic hypotheses recognize groups with intercontinental composition.…”

Karyotype characterization of Trigona fulviventris Guérin, 1835 (Hymenoptera, Meliponini) by C banding and fluorochrome staining: report of a new chromosome number in the genus

“…The tribe Meliponini is pantropically distributed but the highest concentration and diversity occurs in the American tropics, with 56 genera being found in Brazil (Roubik, Segura and Camargo, 1997;Costa et al, 2003).…”

Plectoplebeia, a new Neotropical genus of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

“…The recognition of Plectoplebeia as a new genus follows the pattern of the last two genera proposed for the Neotropical fauna, Meliwillea and Paratrigonoides (roubik et al 1997(roubik et al , Camargo & roubik 2005. Like Plectoplebeia, these genera have each a single species, which represent isolated lineages that fall outside the genera to which they are related.…”

“…lineages that fall outside the genera to which they are related (roubik et al 1997(roubik et al , Camargo & roubik 2005.…”