Rozen Jerome G. Jr., Quezada-Euán J. Javier G., Roubik David W., Smith Corey S. (2019) Immature stages of selected Meliponine bees (Apoidea: Apidae). American Museum Novitates Num 3924, April 8 2019, 26 pp.

Abstract
This paper describes the eggs and last larval instars of certain species of bees belonging to the tribe Meliponini, one of the four related tribes that comprise the corbiculate bees in the subfamily Apinae. The four taxa analyzed include some whose immature stages have previously been described. Our purpose is to identify what is known about the anatomy of immature stages and suggest what needs to be studied to better understand the developmental anatomy of eggs and mature larvae in this group of highly eusocial bees

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Tesista de Doctorado: Rubén Guillermo Medina Hernández. 

Título de tesis: “Efecto del estrés térmico sobre la aptitud biológica de Apis mellifera L. africanizada (Hymenoptera:Apidae)”,.

Fecha de examen profesional: 11 de abril de 2019

Asesor: Dr. José Javier G. Quezada Euán, Dr Robert J Paxton, Dr Luis A. Medina Medina

 

Comité Evaluador: Dr. Victor Parra Tabla, Dra Virgina Melendez R, Dr José Carlos Cervera

Rosemary Hill, Guiomar Nates-Parra, José Javier G. Quezada-Euán, Damayanti Buchori et al. (2019) Biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation. Nature sustainability Vol. 2, March 2019: 214-222.

Abstract

Pollinators underpin sustainable livelihoods that link ecosystems, spiritual and cultural values, and customary governance systems
with indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) across the world. Biocultural diversity is a shorthand term for this
great variety of people–nature interlinkages that have developed over time in specific ecosystems. Biocultural approaches to
conservation explicitly build on the conservation practices inherent in sustaining these livelihoods. We used the Conceptual
Framework of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to analyse the biocultural
approaches to pollinator conservation by IPLCs globally. The analysis identified biocultural approaches to pollinators across
all six elements of the Conceptual Framework, with conservation-related practices occurring in 60 countries, in all continents
except Antarctica. Practices of IPLCs that are important for biocultural approaches to pollinator conservation can be grouped
into three categories: the practice of valuing diversity and fostering biocultural diversity; landscape management practices; and
diversified farming systems. Particular IPLCs may use some or all of these practices. Policies that recognize customary tenure
over traditional lands, strengthen indigenous and community-conserved areas, promote heritage listing and support diversified
farming systems within a food sovereignty approach are among several identified that strengthen biocultural approaches to
pollinator conservation, and thereby deliver mutual benefits for pollinators and people.
Link to article in Nature

 

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.