Eusocial bee male aggregations: spatially and temporally separated but genetically homogenous |
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Authors: | Charles Fernando dos Santos Flávio de Oliveira Francisco Vera Lucia Imperatriz‐Fonseca Maria Cristina Arias |
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Institution: | 1. Departamento de Biodiversidade e Ecologia, Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil;2. Laboratório de Abelhas, Departamento de Ecologia, IB, Universidade de S?o Paulo, S?o Paulo, SP, Brazil;3. Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, IB, Universidade de S?o Paulo, S?o Paulo, SP, Brazil;4. Instituto Vale de Tecnologia – Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Belém, PA, Brazil |
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Abstract: | Male insects mostly aggregate near sites where sexually reproductive virgin females are found and where mating occur. This reproductive strategy is quite common in Hymenoptera and appears to decrease the chances of inbreeding. In Hymenoptera, inbred mating frequently result in sterile diploid males. Production of diploid males may reach high proportions in small bee populations, and it usually lead to population extinction within a small number of generations. Aggregation of males during a short period of time allow the mixing of local genes. In this paper, we analyzed male aggregations of Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), a eusocial stingless bee, using microsatellite molecular markers. We used population genetic statistics for haplodiploid organisms to address genetic structuring among male aggregations. Our findings indicate that, in general, male aggregations of T. angustula occurring over short time scales and in close proximity are genetically homogeneous as if a single aggregation. We conclude that T. angustula males randomly disperse within a population looking for mating chances rather than settle on a distinct male aggregation. This behavior seems to contribute to the reduction of inbreeding in this species. |
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Keywords: | applied entomology conservation genetic diversity pollinator insects reproductive biology social insects Hymenoptera Tetragonisca angustula Apidae |
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