Abstract
Partamona seridoensis is an endemic stingless bee from the Caatinga, a Neotropical dry forest in northeastern Brazil. Like other stingless bees, this species plays an important ecological role as a pollinator. The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic structure and evolutionary history of P. seridoensis across its current geographic range. Workers from 84 nests from 17 localities were analyzed for COI and Cytb genic regions. The population structure tests (Bayesian phylogenetic inference, AMOVA and haplotype network) consistently characterized two haplogroups (northwestern and eastern), with little gene flow between them, generating a high differentiation between them as well as among the populations within each haplogroup. The Mantel test revealed no isolation by distance. No evidence of a potential geographic barrier in the present that could explain the diversification between the P. seridoensis haplogroups was found. However, Pleistocene climatic changes may explain this differentiation, since the initial time for the P. seridoensis lineages diversification took place during the mid-Pleistocene, specifically the interglacial period, when the biota is presumed to have been more associated with dry conditions and had more restricted, fragmented geographical distribution. This event may have driven diversification by isolating the two haplogroups. Otherwise, the climatic changes in the late Pleistocene must not have drastically affected the population dynamics of P. seridoensis, since the Bayesian Skyline Plot did not reveal any substantial fluctuation in effective population size in either haplogroup. Considering its importance and the fact that it is an endemic bee from a very threatened Neotropical dry forest, the results herein could be useful to the development of conservation strategies for P. seridoensis.
Highlights
Social bees from the tribe Meliponini, known as stingless bees, are distributed in tropical and southern subtropical areas throughout the world, with greater diversity in Neotropical and Indo-Malayan regions [1,2]
In each locality where nests of P. seridoensis were sampled, we look for nests distant from each other at least 300 meters to avoid high kinship between them
A fragment of 1,015 base pairs (Cytb– 433 bp; c oxidase I (COI)– 582 bp) was obtained for the concatenated genes of P. seridoensis and no indels occurred in these amplicons
Summary
Social bees from the tribe Meliponini, known as stingless bees, are distributed in tropical and southern subtropical areas throughout the world, with greater diversity in Neotropical and Indo-Malayan regions [1,2]. A total of 641 names for stingless bees are listed for the Neotropical region, 417 of which are considered valid [2]. Recent data indicate 244 valid species and another 89 undescribed forms [3] occurring in Brazil alone. Recent studies have shown the decline of these pollinators and the consequent loss of pollination services in many areas of the world due mainly to human activities [5,6,7,8]. Importance and threats, little is known regarding the population genetics and phylogeography of these bees
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