Palaeocene origin of the Neotropical lineage of cleptoparasitic bees Ericrocidini‐Rhathymini (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Abstract

Cleptoparasitic bees abandoned pollen‐collecting for their offspring and lay their eggs in other bees' provisioned nests. Also known as cuckoo bees, they belong to several lineages, but are especially diverse in Apinae. We focused on a lineage of apine cleptoparasitic bees, the clade Ericrocidini + Rhathymini, which attack nests of oil‐collecting bees. We sequenced five genes for 20 species in all genera of this clade plus a large outgroup to reconstruct the phylogeny and estimate divergence times. We confirmed the monophyly of the clade Ericrocidini + Rhathymini and its position inside the ericrocidine line together with the tribes Protepeolini, Isepeolini, Osirini and Coelioxoidini. Our results corroborated the current taxonomic classification. Ericrocis is sister to all Ericrocidini and the position of Acanthopus and the most diverse genus Mesoplia were inconclusive. Ericrocidini + Rhathymini diverged from other apine cleptoparasitic lineages 74 Ma in the Cretaceous and from each other in the Palaeocene at 61 Ma. Considering the robust molecular evidence of their sister relationships, the striking differences in the morphology of first‐instar larvae of the two groups may represent adaptations to the nesting biology of their hosts. As other cleptoparasites in the ericrocidine line, Ericrocidini and Rhathymini possess larvae which are adapted to kill the immature host and to feed on floral oil provided by the host female. The evolution of host specialization in the line Ericrocidini + Rhathymini retroceded to the Eocene when they differentiated synchronously with their hosts, Centris and Epicharis.

Natural enemies of the oil-collecting bee Centris analis (Fabricius, 1804) with notes on the behavior of the cleptoparasite Coelioxys nigrofimbriata Cockerell, 1919 (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

“…All species of this tribe are cleptoparasites, most of them on Centris spp. (Rocha-Filho et al 2009;Martins et al 2017;Michener 2007), although Mesoplia Lepeletier also occurs in nests of Epicharis Klug (Rocha-Filho et al 2008). Host associations are still poorly documented, sometimes only known from indirect observations (Michener 2007 Aglaomelissa Snelling and Brooks is a monotypic genus known from Costa Rica and northern South America (Michener 2007, Moure and.…”