Quezada- Euán J.J.G., Sanabria-Urbán S., Smith C.,Cueva del Castillo R. (2019). Patterns of sexual size dimorphism in stingless bees: Testing Rensch’s rule and potential causes in highly eusocial bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Meliponini). Ecology and Evolution 9 (5): 2688-2698.

 Abstract

Eusocial insects offer a unique opportunity to analyze the evolution of body size differences between sexes in relation to social environment. The workers, being sterile females, are not subject to selection for reproductive function providing a natural control for parsing the effects of selection on reproductive function (i.e., sexual and fecundity selection) from other kinds of natural selection. Patterns of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and testing of Rensch's rule controlling for phylogenetic effects were analyzed in the Meliponini or stingless bees. Theory predicts that queens may exhibit higher selection for fecundity in eusocial taxa, but contrary to this, we found mixed patterns of SSD in Meliponini. Non‐Melipona species generally have a female‐biased SSD, while all analyzed species of Melipona showed a male‐biased SSD, indicating that the direction and magnitude of the selective pressures do not operate in the same way for all members of this taxon. The phylogenetic regressions revealed that the rate of divergence has not differed between the two castes of females and the males, that is, stingless bees do not seem to follow Rensch's rule (a slope >1), adding this highly eusocial taxon to the various solitary insect taxa not conforming with it. Noteworthy, when Melipona was removed from the analysis, the phylogenetic regressions for the thorax width of males on queens had a slope significantly smaller than 1, suggesting that the evolutionary divergence has been larger in queens than males, and could be explained by stronger selection on female fecundity only in non‐Melipona species. Our results in the stingless bees question the classical explanation of female‐biased SSD via fecundity and provide a first evidence of a more complex determination of SSD in highly eusocial species. We suggest that in highly eusocial taxa, additional selection mechanisms, possibly related to individual and colonial interests, could influence the evolution of environmentally determined traits such as body size.

https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4935

Acceso a PDF Ecology & Evolution

Diplomado Apicultura en Línea 2019

Diplomado Apicultura en Línea 2019

Fleites-Ayil F.A., Quezada-Euán J.J.G., Medina-Medina L.A. (2018) Onset of foraging and lifespan of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera ) infected with different levels of Nosema ceranae spores in Neotropical Mexico. Apidologie 49:781–788. 

 Abstract – Nosema ceranae is a microsporidium pathogen widely spread around the world. Negative effects on foraging behavior and longevity of European honey bee (EHB) colonies have been associated with this pathogen as well as possible population losses, but its effects have not been studied in tropical adapted honey bees. We studied the interaction between this pathogen and Africanized honey bees (AHB) in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico where N. ceranae has only been detected since 2008. Non-infected and artificially infected workers with two different spore concentrations were introduced in observation hives to evaluate the onset and duration of foraging and longevity.
The results showed precocious foraging, a reduction of the duration of foraging and a decrease in the longevity of infected bees compared with non-infected ones. However, the results indicate that although negative effects can be caused by N. ceranae in AHB, these were of a moderate magnitude compared with similar reports on EHB in temperate areas. Further research is necessary to  evaluate the long-term effect of N. ceranae on AHBs in relation to colony dynamics to better understand the absence of significant colony losses associated with this pathogen in tropical and subtropical Mexico.

Link Apidologie

Valor cultural de las abejas sin aguijón en América Tropical

Quezada-Euán JJG; Nates-Parra G; Maués MM; Imperatriz-Fonseca VL; Roubik DW (2018) The economic and cultural values of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) among ethnic groups of tropical America. Sociobiology 65: 534-557.

 Abstract- Stingless honey bees — commonly known as stingless bees — have long provided food and materials to the inhabitants of tropical America. We conducted a literature search to codify available information, including non-peer reviewed ‘grey literature’, on the purported value of stingless bees to indigenous people. Among > 400 species of Neotropical stingless bees several are widely used in beekeeping. Varied cultural and economic values are associated with their use, and in some cases husbandry, as a consequence of ongoing contact between people and these social insects. Adapting new species to husbandry is being attempted in many countries. The bees remain culturally important, and beliefs associated with them are significant for different groups, beyond utilization as commodities. We find values in food, craft, religion and medicine, with cultural values ranging from utilitarian to mythological. Values transmitted across generations allow cohesion and communal identity of native organisms associated with any indigenous society. Such cultural values seem in danger of extinction, primarily due to external factors. We provide examples of successful regional strategies in averting cultural and economic loss in natural human heritage, in this case bees that provide honey and other benefits. Preserving stingless bees and the cultural heritage around them provides a good example of sustainable use of native species in human communities. Bees are important agents for conservation of the environment.

 

Expresión de genes en Euglossa de Yucatán
 Boff S, Friedel A, Miertsch A, Quezada-Euàn JJG, Paxton RJ, Lattorff HMG (2018) A scientifc note on validation of housekeeping genes for the primitively eusocial bee Euglossa viridissima Friese (Apidae: Euglossini). Sociobiology 65: 766-769.
Abstract- Studies on the expression of genes in different contexts are essential to our understanding of the functioning of organisms and their adaptations to the environment. Gene expression studies require steps of normalization, which are done using the stable expression pattern of reference genes. For many different eusocial bees reference genes have been discovered, but not for the primitively eusocial Euglossini bees. We used available genomic resources of Euglossini species and the gene information of Apis mellifera Linnaeus to develop a set of reference genes for the primitive eusocial bee Euglossa viridissima Friese. We tested nine genes, in distinct developmental stages, using three different algorithms, to infer stability of gene expression. The TATA-binding protein (TBP) and 14-3-3 epsilon were the most stable genes across all developmental stages. The strongest deviation in gene expression pattern occurred in pupae, which require a different set of genes for normalizing gene expression.

Curso teórico-práctico sobre enfermedades y parasitosis de las abejas melíferas

Link para informes e inscripciones

Abejas sin aguijón de México

Abejas sin aguijón de México: Biología, manejo y conservación de una herencia ancestral (2018)- Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán 420 págs.

Solicitudes accediendo a las páginas WEB de la Librería UADY (link), 
Gandhi (link), Librería de la U (link), tanto en México como en Colombia; Librería El Ermitaño, en México; Boutique del libro en Argentina; Casa del Libro en España, Buscalibre, entre otras.