Medina RG, Fairbairn DJ, Bustillos A, Moo-Valle H, Medina S, Quezada-Euán J J G (2016) Variable patterns of intraspecific sexual size dimorphism and allometry in three species of eusocial corbiculate bees. Insectes Sociaux 63: 493-500

 

Abstract

Sexual size dimorphism (SSD), in which one sex is larger than the other, has remained understudied in social insects, particularly bees. Using weight and linear structural measurements, we quantified the magnitude of SSD and its variation across nests in three species of corbiculate bees, two belonging to the highly eusocial Apini (Apis mellifera) and Meliponini (Melipona beecheii), and one to the primitively eusocial Euglossini (Euglossa viridissima). We asked if similar to most insects, including Hymenoptera, SSD is female-biased in these eusocial species. Contrary to expectations, we found that SSD was moderately male-biased in the two highly eusocial species and slightly male-biased for weight and not significant for linear size in E. viridissima. The possible roles of queen protogyny and reduced brood provisioning by queens in shaping these patterns of SSD are discussed. The allometry of SSD among nests differed among species as well, ranging from hypoallometry in A. mellifera, to isometry in M. beecheii, to hyperallometry in E. viridissima. This variation indicates that the phenotypic response of body size to differing conditions across nests differs both between sexes and among species. The variation detected among the three studied species in both SSD and allometry for SSD precludes any broad generalizations to other corbiculate bees. However, it does suggest that corbiculate bees can provide a new and diverse framework to analyze the effects of social environment on the evolution of animal sexual dimorphism.

 

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Carolina Isabel Cuanalo Romero

 Tesis de Maestría: Biología reproductiva y apifauna visitante de la jícama Pachyrhizus erosus (L) Urban: (Fabaceae-Papilionoideae) en Yucatán. 

Fecha de examen 7 de junio de 2016.

 

Asesores: Dr William May Itzá y Dr J Javier Quezada Euán

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Curso de Educación Contínua: "Diagnóstico y control de las principales enfermedades y parasitosis en las abejas melíferas" 

Inicio en Octubre 2016

Instructores: Dr Luis Medina Medina y Dr William May Itzá

 

 

PROGRAMA DEL CURSO

Visitantes: Philipp Brand (Davis California) e Ismael Hinojosa (UNAM) en compañia de Rubén Medina (estudiante de Doctorado) y Javier Quezada colectando abejas euglossinas como contribución al análisis genómico de las mismas

 

Macias Macias J O; Quezada-Euán J J G (2015) Stingless bees in a temperate climate: oviposition behavior and duration of ontogenic development stages in Melipona colimana (Hymenoptera: Meliponini). J. Apicultural Res. 54: 255-259

Abstract

Melipona colimana is a stingless bee endemic to temperate areas of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt, where intranest behavior during the provisioning and oviposition process, duration of ontogenic development stages and time of emergence of individuals were determined. It was observed that the dynamics of provisioning and oviposition do not differ substantially from tropical species of the same genus, but ontogenic development in a temperate climate was longer than in a tropical climate, possibly due to lower temperatures in the original habitat of the species. Duration of ontogenic

development of M. colimana individuals is the longest recorded so far among the species of Melipona genus. Worker bees took 55.44 ± 1.09 days to emerge from the cells; males, 57.14 ± 0.94 and gynes, 52.62 ± 0.63, with statistical differences between them (F = 367.72, DF = 2, 395, p < .05). The gynes emerged before workers, and workers before the males. The obtained data can be used to promote the sustainable use of this species in mountains in Mexico.

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Gutiérrez E., Ruiz D., Solís T., May-Itzá W. de J., Moo-Valle H., Quezada Euán J.J.G. (2016) Does larval food affect cuticular profiles and recognition in eusocial bees? a test on Scaptotrigona gynes (Hymenoptera: Meliponini). Behav Ecol. Sociobiol. 70: 781-789

Abstract

The relative contributions of heritable and environmentally acquired components of colony odor towards individual recognition are scarcely known in social insects. Larval food may affect cuticular profiles which in turn may serve as cues in the process of elimination of excess gynes characteristic of the eusocial stingless bees. In this study we evaluated the contribution of larval food to cuticular profiles of stingless bee gynes and quantitatively tested if recognition (latency) from workers may be related to gyne chemotype and origin in the species Scaptotrigona pectoralis. Our results showed that the origin of food did not significantly affect the cuticular profiles of gynes, as larvae of the same origin reared on food from different colonies showed similar cuticular profiles at emergence. We suggest that overlapping over floral resources may account for the similarity in cuticular cues derived from food across experimental colonies. Additionally, workers showed similar latency time to first aggression towards gynes irrespectively of their chemotype and origin. Gyne’s mass had no effect on the aggressive response from workers either. We observed that gynes threatened aggressive workers which counteracted further aggression. Our results indicate that in stingless bees cuticular hydrocarbons at emergence seem to have genetic origin and that gyne tolerance seems not related to cuticular chemical profiles. We suggest that cuticular cues may serve as caste labels for the identification of newly emerged gynes after which worker aggression towards them would elicit behavioral indicators of their fitness. 

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