Taxonomic revision of the Sylvarum group of bumblebees using an integrative approach

Abstract

Recent improvements in taxonomy consider multiple operational criteria. Integrative taxonomy provides a methodological framework merging these multisource approaches. Bumblebees are considered as a uniform group where their taxonomy remains one of the most difficult. Here, we investigate the taxonomic statuses inside a monophyletic group including six taxa (B. inexspectatus, B. mlokosievitzii, B. ruderarius, B. sylvarum, B. velox and B. veteranus) in the most diverse subgenus of bumblebees: Thoracobombus. We used an integrative approach based on mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers and eco-chemical traits commonly used in bumblebee taxonomy. For all species, our study shows a clear differentiation in DNA and eco-chemical traits. However, we conserve the subspecies status of B. ruderarius simulatilis and B. sylvarum daghestanicus from the east of Turkey and Iran according to their degree of genetic and eco-chemical differentiation.

An integrative taxonomic and phylogenetic approach reveals a new Neotropical swarm-founding social wasp, Pseudopolybia cryptica sp. n. (Vespidae: Polistinae: Epiponini)

“…Despite several studies performed molecular species delimitation approaches to identify Hymenoptera species (Fernández-Flores et al 2013;Schwarzfeld and Sperling 2015;Williams et al 2015;Hurtado-Burillo et al 2017;Waichert et al 2019;Brasero et al 2020;Sabadini et al 2020), molecular methods have not previously been applied to alpha-taxonomic problems in Epiponini wasps. Notably, based on morphological and molecular results for Synoeca species, Menezes et al (2015) and Lopes and Menezes (2017) argued that the social wasp diversity in the Neotropical region may be underestimated due to morphological similarity of these insects, and hence they recommended the combination of morphology, po pulation-level sampling, and genetics to systematic studies for the group.…”

A worthy conservation target? Revising the status of the rarest bumblebee of Europe

“…As an additional line of evidence for delimiting species, we have therefore studied the cephalic labial gland secretions (CLGSs) of male bumblebees, an eco‐chemical trait involved in the nuptial behaviour of most species (Ayasse et al ., 2001; Baer, 2003). They are widely used for both species delimitation and intraspecific variation assessment in bumblebees (Lecocq et al ., 2011, 2015a,b; Brasero et al ., 2015, 2020; Martinet et al ., 2018) as they constitute a main signal for pre‐copulatory recognition between conspecific taxa (Baer, 2003). As far as is known, each bumblebee species produces a specific blend of these de novo ‐synthesised aliphatic compounds (Ayasse & Jarau, 2014; Bergström, 2008; Valterová et al ., 2019), although possible limitations in the interpretation of CLGS has been hypothesised (but not tested yet) in the case of allopatric taxa (e.g.…”

“…based on allopatry and colour pattern, Lecocq et al 2015); (ii) a low genetic differentiation accompanied with a dialectic semio-chemical signal (e.g. Brasero et al, 2020Brasero et al, , 2021; (iii) a significant genetic differentiation with a dialectic semio-chemical signal (Martinet et al, 2018, but see Williams et al, 2019. The present taxon reinigiellus falls in the first case where the taxon is isolated, presents tenuous but extant morphological and colour differences (Rasmont, 1983;Castro, 1988) and a distinct wing phenotype and a unique wing size/ITD ratio but shows no molecular differentiation based on our two other traits (COI and CLGS).…”

Resolving the species status of overlooked West‐Palaearctic bumblebees

“…The in‐group comprises eversmanniellus from Turkey and Iran ( n = 5); persicus from Iran ( n = 4); laesus from Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey ( n = 19); mocsaryi from France, Hungary, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan ( n = 20); aliceae from Morocco ( n = 5); mollis from France, Andorra and Spain ( n = 8); mucidus from Switzerland, Austria and Italy ( n = 24); and pittioniellus from Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia ( n = 10). We complemented the in‐group with the six species from the sylvarum ‐group of bumblebees (Brasero et al., 2020), the sister group of our examined clades with the subgenus Thoracobombus (Cameron et al., 2007). The outgroup includes the related species B .…”