Prediction of social structure and genetic relatedness in colonies of the facultative polygynous stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera, Apidae)
Genet. mol. biol
;
34(2): 338-344, 2011. tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: lil-587758
ABSTRACT
Stingless bee colonies typically consist of one single-mated mother queen and her worker offspring. The stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera Apidae) shows facultative polygyny, which makes this species particularly suitable for testing theoretical expectations concerning social behavior. In this study, we investigated the social structure and genetic relatedness among workers from eight natural and six manipulated colonies of M. bicolor over a period of one year. The populations of M. bicolor contained monogynous and polygynous colonies. The estimated genetic relatedness among workers from monogynous and polygynous colonies was 0.75 ± 0.12 and 0.53 ± 0.16 (mean ± SEM), respectively. Although the parental genotypes had significant effects on genetic relatedness in monogynous and polygynous colonies, polygyny markedly decreased the relatedness among nestmate workers. Our findings also demonstrate that polygyny in M. bicolor may arise from the adoption of related or unrelated queens.
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Index:
LILACS (Americas)
Type of study:
Prognostic study
/
Risk factors
Language:
English
Journal:
Genet. mol. biol
Journal subject:
Genetics
Year:
2011
Type:
Article
/
Project document
Affiliation country:
Brazil
Institution/Affiliation country:
Universidade Federal de Viçosa/BR
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