Two new cases of gynandromorphism in Xylocopinae bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from India

The first gynandromorph of the Neotropical bee Megalopta amoena (Spinola, 1853) (Halictidae) with notes on its circadian rhythm

“…Hinojosa-Díaz et al 2012showed that there is a Holarctic bias in gynandromorph collection, but our study and other recent works (Alvarez et al 2014, 2019, Prashantha 2019 show that increased research attention in other parts of the world is leading to further discovery of gynandromorphs. Our study highlights a new occurrence of this rare phenomenon and calls for continuously close examination of the morphology of specimens to determine the frequency and distribution of gynandromorphs globally.…”

“…The terminology for external morphology follows Eickwort (1969) and Michener (2007), with modifications by Santos and Melo (2015).…”

“…Gynandromorphy is a rare occurrence in which an organism presents both male and female phenotypes (Wcislo et al 2004a). Gynandromorphs have been reported in at least 140 bee species, which is only 0.7% of all bee species (Alvarez et al 2019, Prashantha et al 2019, reviewed by Wcislo et al 2004a, Michez et al 2009, Hinojosa-Díaz et al 2012. This phenomenon may offer insight into the evolution of specialized morphological traits, such as male-like morphology of female brood-parasitic bee lineages (Wcislo et al 2004a), the modified morphology of social insect castes (Yang and Abouheif 2011), and novel methods of reproduction (Aamidor et al 2018).…”

The first cases of gynandromorphism in oil‑collecting bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae: Centridini, Tapinotaspidini)

“…Gynandromorphism in bees are known from more than 140 species and 36 genera belonging to all families, though most of these records belong to the longtongued bee families (Almeida et al, 2018;Prashantha et al, 2018). Within the family Megachilidae, the records of gynandromorphs are in three tribes (Anthidini, Megachilini and Osmiini), but mainly are present in the genus Megachile Latreille (Hinojosa-Díaz et al, 2012; Coelho et al, 2016).…”

A new case of gynandromorphism in Xylocopa frontalis (Olivier) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with an updated review of records in Xylocopinae Latreille

“…Megachille Latreille) and carpenter bees (e.g. Xylocopa Latreille) (Wcislo et al 2004;Michez et al 2009;Hinojosa-Díaz et al 2012;Lucia and Gonzalez 2013;Vivallo 2015;Zama and Coelho 2017;Almeida et al 2018;Onuferko 2018;Prashantha et al 2018). Recent records have also been made in orchids bees of the genus Euglossa Latreille (Giangarelli and Sofia 2011;Hinojosa-Díaz et al 2012;Camargo and Gonçalves 2013;Suzuki et al 2014), oil-collecting bees of the tribe Centridini and Tapinotaspidini (Alvarez et al 2019), stingless bees of the genus Paratetrapedia Schwarz and sweat bees of the genus Augochlora Smith (Alvarez et al 2014).…”