A molecular phylogeny of the Old World stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) and the non‐monophyly of the large genusTrigona

Abstract

AbstractWe examined the inter‐ and infrageneric relationships of Old World Meliponini with a near‐complete sampling of supra‐specific taxa. DNA sequences for the taxa were collected from four genes (mitochondrial 16S rRNA, nuclear long‐wavelength rhodopsin copy 1 (opsin), elongation factor‐1α copy F2 and arginine kinase). Additional sampling of New World taxa indicated thatTrigona sensu latois not monophyletic:Trigonafrom the Indo‐Malayan/Australasian Regions forms a large clade distantly related to the NeotropicalTrigona. A separate clade comprises the Afrotropical meliponines, and includes the ‘minute’ species found in the Afrotropical, Indo‐Malayan and Australasian Regions. The Neotropical genusMelipona, by contrast with previous investigations, is not the sister lineage to the remaining stingless bees, but falls within the strongly supported Neotropical clade. These results constitute the framework for a revised classification and ongoing biological investigations of Meliponini. A single taxonomic change,Heterotrigona bakeristat.n., is proposed on the basis of sequence divergence.