DNA Barcoding of Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) in Northern Peruvian Forests: A Plea for Integrative Taxonomy

Abstract

Stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) are among the most important pollinators of tropical forests. Peru is considered a hotspot of biodiversity of Meliponini, but many areas of this country (e.g., Peruvian Amazon) remain unexplored. We aimed to produce a first inventory of stingless bee species dwelling in humid and seasonally dry forests of northern Peru by combining traditional (morphologically-based) taxonomy and DNA barcoding. Specimens were collected in 2020 at five sites located in San Martin and Piura regions. We identified 12 genera of Meliponini. Among those, Trigona and Plebeia were the most abundant (45.9% and 12.8% respectively), whereas Nannotrigona and Scaura were the least represented ones (2.3%). We assigned a reliable species identification to about 30% of specimens (Trigona amazonensis, T. muzoensis, T. williana, Partamona testacea, Scaura tenuis, Tetragona goettei, and Tetragonisca angustula). Yet, more than a half of the specimens received a provisional identification (e.g., Geotrigona cf. fulvohirta, T. cf. amalthea, T. cf. fuscipennis, T. cf. hypogea, Melipona cf. cramptoni, Partamona cf. epiphytophila, Ptilotrigona cf. perenae, Scaura cf. latitarsis, Tetragona cf. clavipes, Trigonisca cf. atomaria). We also highlighted an extensive polyphyly that affected a number of currently recognized species (e.g., T. fulviventris, T. guianae, Plebeia franki, P. frontalis, M. eburnea, M. illota), whose members were split into various clades. Finally, 16% of individuals failed to be identified at the species level (Trigona sp. 1, T. sp. 2, Nannotrigona sp., Partamona sp., Scaptotrigona sp. 1, S. sp. 2, Trigonisca sp. 1, and Trigonisca sp. 2). We discuss our findings according to the current faunistic and biogeographic knowledge of Meliponini in Peru and the Neotropical region. We also remark on the importance of conducting a taxonomic revision of stingless bees and improving both their morphology-based identification keys and BOLD repository. Finally, we claim that integrative taxonomy shall be strongly implemented to truly assess the biodiversity of Neotropical stingless bees, allowing conserving these important pollinators and the associated traditional meliponiculture in an effective manner.

European and Mediterranean Myzocallidini Aphid Species: DNA Barcoding and Remarks on Ecology with Taxonomic Modifications in An Integrated Framework

“…Combining molecular (COI gene), morphological and ecological information in an integrative framework makes possible to resolve numerous taxonomic issues concerning insect species [67][68][69][70][71]. In particular, the most accurate results are obtained when expert morphologists on the target group are involved in the evaluation of the signal resulting from molecular analyses, in this case is also easier to distinguish between extrinsic and intrinsic errors related to the species molecular identification and delimitation [71][72][73]). For some insect groups, as in the case of aphids, the evaluation of the ecological information is important in the process of species identification and delimitation as well.…”

A Novel Integrative Methodology for Research on Pot-honey Variations During Post-harvest

“…A lack of precise identifications, despite the significant advances and taxonomic updates to stingless bees (Roubik, 2013;Melo, 2021) means that such published data are effectively useless as they are devoid of any link back to a biological entity and therefore the results cannot be repeated nor properly compared across the diverse fauna of stingless bees. The growing complexity of entomological identifications was clear for Peruvian stingless bees (Marconi et al, 2022). Authors and editors must be insistent on obtaining proper identifications as this is a mandatory requirement for any exploration of pothoney in stingless bee research.…”