Pleistocene climate changes shaped the population structure of Partamona seridoensis (Apidae, Meliponini), an endemic stingless bee from the Neotropical dry forest

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.

Genetic and morphometric variation in Schwarziana quadripunctata and Schwarziana mourei (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini)

“…A high haplotype diversity was observed for the COI and 16S haplotypes distribution (Hd = 0.885 and 0.842, respectively), but a low and moderate average number of nucleotide substitutions between COI and 16S haplotypes (k = 13.32 and 3.668, respectively), considering the analysed samples. The average number of nucleotide substitutions was higher when compared to those previously reported in other stingless bees, such as Partamona rustica and P. seridoensis (Miranda et al 2016;Miranda et al 2017). This maybe could be associated to an older origin of the genus Schwarziana relative to Partamona (Rasmussen and Cameron 2010).…”

“…Our results are in accordance with previous studies in other Meliponini bees, in which there is moderate dispersion capability and some population structuring influenced by geographical distance. A scenario of very high haplotype diversity with low nucleotide diversity has been previously reported for stingless bee species as Melipona quadrifasciata (Batalha-Filho et al 2010), Partamona mulata (Brito et al 2013), P. rustica and P. seridoensis (Miranda et al 2016;Miranda et al 2017), Partamona helleri (Dessi et al 2022), Plebeia remota (Francisco et al 2013), Melipona subnitida (Bonatti et al 2014), Tetragonula carbonaria and T. hockingsi (Brito et al 2014), Tetragonisca angustula (Francisco et al 2017), Nannotrigona testaceicornis (Mendes et al 2007), Melipona beecheii (Francoy et al 2011) and Mourella caerulea (Galaschi-Teixeira et al 2018), suggesting a similar population structuring of these stingless bee when accessed by mitochondrial genes.…”

Population genetic structure and evolutionary history of Bale monkeys (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis) in the southern Ethiopian Highlands

“…Bale monkeys are one of the least-studied African primates [ 25 ]. Therefore, baseline data on their phylogenetic position, population genetic structure and evolutionary history are crucial for assessing the conservation status of the taxon and for designing and implementing effective management strategies [ 7 , 27 – 30 ]. Hence, we aimed to investigate the phylogeography and genetic diversity of Bale monkeys using the hypervariable region I (HVI) of the mitochondrial (mtDNA) control region (CR).…”

Phylogeography and demographic history of the Chagas disease vector Rhodnius nasutus (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in the Brazilian Caatinga biome

“…The two closest collection sites are located 40 km apart (Altos and Campo Maior), while the most distant are 670 km apart (Parnaíba and Serra Talhada). The Caatinga biome covers nearly 85,000 km 2 of the northeast region, belongs to the seasonally dry tropical forests phytogeographic unit [ 15 ], and is a species-rich xeric environment [ 16 , 17 ].…”