Phylogenomic systematics, comparative morphology and biogeography of bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila)

• Grant number: 18/09666-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Eduardo Andrade Botelho de Almeida
• Grantee: Eduardo Andrade Botelho de Almeida
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Diego Sasso Porto ; Marcio Roberto Pie

Abstract

Bees comprise approximately 20,000 extant valid species, which are interpreted to derive from an evolutionary diversification process begun in the Cretaceous about 120 million years ago. This evolutionary radiation is reflected in a remarkable morphological as well as behavioral disparity of bees. These hymenopteran insects are a very intriguing model for comparative investigations associating morphological diversity and the tempo and mode of their macroevolutionary history. In order for a proper understanding of bee evolution to happen, a robust phylogenetic framework is essential. Despite the inestimable efforts made in recent decades to advance in the understanding of bee phylogeny, crucial questions could not be properly addressed, and the placement of various taxa is dubious as a result of either a lack of substantial effort to solve these problems of due to persistent difficulties in this kind of research. In this proposal, the phylogenetic relationships among major lineages of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) will be investigated using a combination of comparative morphological work and phylogenomic data from Ultraconserved Elements (UCEs). For the morphological component, special attention will be given to internal skeletal structures, which will require refined studies using light microscopical investigations combined with stereomicroscopy, which will be allied to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-CT imaging. UCEs are a class of molecular markers increasingly used for phylogenomics ad yielding very promising results, in particular for Hymenoptera. Four specific goals are proposed: (a) reevaluate the monophyly of taxa treated as tribes, subfamilies and families of bees; (b) evaluate the placement of the root node of bees. as well as the position of the bee clade in relation to other Apoidea; (c) evaluate the utility and information content of internal skeletal morphological character complexes for higher level bee phylogeny; (d) infer divergence times for most bee clades and use these data to better explain bee diversification in time and space. (AU)

Scientific publications

(23)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FREITAS, FELIPE, V. New genus and subgenus of South American long-horned bees (Apidae, Eucerini). Zootaxa, v. 5196, n. 4, p. 6-pg., 2022-10-21. (19/09215-6, 18/09666-5, 21/02196-6)

AMENT, DANILO CESAR. he correlation between wing interference patterns and body size in Coniceromyia Borgmeier (Diptera: Phoridae) and its implications to the understanding of the former as a sexually selected trai. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH, v. 59, n. 8, OCT 2021. (18/09666-5)

STEFANELLO, FABIANO; MENEZES, RODOLPHO S. T.; RIBEIRO, I, JOSE RICARDO; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Widespread Gene Flow Model Explains the Genetic-Morphological Variation in a Giant Water Bug Species Under Fine-Scale Spatial Sampling. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, v. 113, n. 3, p. 160-170, MAY 2020. (11/09477-9, 15/07166-7, 16/21098-7, 16/12720-6, 18/09666-5)

AMENT, DANILO C.; HASH, JOHN M.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Remarkable sexually dimorphic features of Coniceromyia (Diptera: Phoridae): evolution in the light of phylogeny and comparative evidence about their function. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 132, n. 3, p. 521-538, MAR 2021. (18/09666-5)

AMENT, DANILO CESAR; KUNG, GIAR-ANN; BROWN, V, BRIAN. Forty-one new species of Coniceromyia Borgmeier (Diptera: Phoridae), an identification key, and new distributional records for the species of the genus. Zootaxa, v. 4830, n. 1, p. 1-61, AUG 12 2020. (13/16528-4, 18/09666-5, 11/03563-0, 10/52314-0)

FREITAS, V, FELIPE; BRANSTETTER, MICHAEL G.; GRISWOLD, TERRY; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Partitioned Gene-Tree Analyses and Gene-Based Topology Testing Help Resolve Incongruence in a Phylogenomic Study of Host-Specialist Bees (Apidae: Eucerinae). Molecular Biology and Evolution, v. 38, n. 3, p. 1090-1100, MAR 2021. (18/09666-5)

LUCENA, DAERCIO A. A.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.; ZANELLA, V, FERNANDO C.. Amiseginae and Cleptinae from northeastern Brazil, with the description of four new species (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae). JOURNAL OF HYMENOPTERA RESEARCH, v. 81, p. 57-85, FEB 25 2021. (17/25081-4, 14/12407-0, 18/09666-5, 15/12326-3)

ROZEN, JR., JEROME G.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.; SMITH, COREY SHEPARD; JONES, LANCE ERIC. Intratribal Variation among Mature Larvae of Stingless Bees (Apidae: Meliponini) with Descriptions of the Eggs of 11 Species. American Museum Novitates, n. 3971, JUN 28 2021. (18/09666-5)

LUCENA, DAERCIO A. A.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Morphology and Bayesian tip-dating recover deep Cretaceous-age divergences among major chrysidid lineages (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae). ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, v. 194, n. 1, p. 36-79, JAN 2022. (18/09666-5, 15/12326-3, 11/09477-9, 17/25081-4)

ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.; COSTA, ANNE M.; TAVARES FILHO, JOSE AMILCAR; ZICHINELLI, MARCELA M. P.; QUINTEIRO, FABIO B.. Illustrated catalogue of type specimens of insects (Hexapoda) at Colecao Entomologica ``Prof. JMFCamargo{''} (RPSP), Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Zootaxa, v. 4842, n. 1, p. 1-204, AUG 31 2020. (18/09666-5, 11/09477-9)

PORTO, DIEGO SASSO; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Corbiculate Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Exploring the Limits of Morphological Data to Solve a Hard Phylogenetic Problem. INSECT SYSTEMATICS AND DIVERSITY, v. 5, n. 3, MAY 2021. (18/19277-6, 14/10090-0, 12/22261-8, 18/09666-5, 15/15347-1)

QUINTEIRO, FABIO B.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Systematics of Neotropical Oecetis McLachlan, 1877 (Trichoptera: Leptoceridae): When the taxonomy and phylogeny meet. ZOOLOGISCHER ANZEIGER, v. 293, p. 233-246, JUL 2021. (18/09666-5)

COSTA, SAVIO CUNHA; PIRANI, GABRIELA; OLIVEIRA, SARAH SIQUEIRA. Monotypic no more: A new species of the unusual genus Mayagueza Wheeler, 1960 from the Neotropical region (Diptera: Drosophilidae: Steganinae). Zootaxa, v. 5068, n. 2, p. 287-294, NOV 16 2021. (18/09666-5)

FREITAS, FELIPE, V; BRANSTETTER, MICHAEL G.; FRANCESCHINI-SANTOS, VINICIUS H.; DORCHIN, ACHIK; WRIGHT, KAREN W.; LOPEZ-URIBE, MARGARITA M.; GRISWOLD, TERRY; SILVEIRA, FERNANDO A.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. UCE phylogenomics, biogeography, and classification of long-horned bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Eucerini), with insights on using specimens with extremely degraded DNA. INSECT SYSTEMATICS AND DIVERSITY, v. 7, n. 4, p. 21-pg., 2023-07-01. (18/09666-5, 21/02196-6, 19/09215-6)

ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.; BOSSERT, SILAS; DANFORTH, BRYAN N.; PORTO, DIEGO S.; FREITAS, FELIPE V.; DAVIS, CHARLES C.; MURRAY, ELIZABETH A.; BLAIMER, BONNIE B.; SPASOJEVIC, TAMARA; STROEHER, PATRICIA R.; et al. The evolutionary history of bees in time and space. Current Biology, v. 33, n. 16, p. 21-pg., 2023-08-21. (18/09666-5)

COSTA, SAVIO CUNHA; PIRANI, GABRIELA; MATHIS, WAYNE N.. First record of Diastatidae (Diptera: Ephydroidea) from Brazil, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, v. 5278, n. 2, p. 9-pg., 2023-05-05. (18/09666-5)

ROSA, BRUNNO B.; MELO, GABRIEL A. R.; RIBEIRO, GUILHERME C.. The first crabronid wasps (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) from the Crato Formation (Northeastern Brazil) and implications for the evolution of apoid wasps and bees during the Early Cretaceous. CRETACEOUS RESEARCH, v. 137, p. 8-pg., 2022-06-02. (20/13943-4, 18/09666-5, 20/02844-5)

MENEZES, RODOLPHO S. T.; CABRAL-DE-MELLO, DIOGO C.; MILANI, DIOGO; BARDELLA, VANESSA B.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. The relevance of chromosome fissions for major ribosomal DNA dispersion in hymenopteran insects. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, v. 34, n. 9, AUG 2021. (16/21098-7, 19/19069-7, 15/02432-0, 18/09666-5, 14/11763-8)

PORTO, DIEGO S.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. A comparative study of the pharyngeal plate of Apoidea (Hymenoptera: Aculeata), with implications for the understanding of phylogenetic relationships of bees. ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT, v. 50, p. 64-77, MAY 2019. (18/09666-5, 15/15347-1, 11/09477-9)

BOSSERT, SILAS; WOOD, THOMAS J.; PATINY, SEBASTIEN; MICHEZ, DENIS; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.; MINCKLEY, ROBERT L.; PACKER, LAURENCE; NEFF, JOHN L.; COPELAND, ROBERT S.; STRAKA, JAKUB; et al. Phylogeny, biogeography and diversification of the mining bee family Andrenidae. Systematic Entomology, DEC 2021. (18/09666-5)

COSTA, SAVIO CUNHA; PIRANI, GABRIELA; OLIVEIRA, SARAH SIQUEIRA. On the uncommon genera Pseudiastata Coquillett and Hyalistata Wheeler (Diptera: Drosophilidae: Steganinae): new species and additional records from the Neotropical Region. Zootaxa, v. 5116, n. 3, p. 17-pg., 2022-03-21. (18/09666-5)

PORTO, DIEGO S.; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.; PENNELL, MATTHEW W.. Investigating Morphological Complexes Using Informational Dissonance and Bayes Factors: A Case Study in Corbiculate Bees. Systematic Biology, v. 70, n. 2, p. 295-306, MAR 2021. (15/15347-1, 18/09666-5, 18/19277-6)

LUCENA, DAERCIO A. A.; SANTOS-NETO, PEDRO E.; ZANELLA, FERNANDO C., V; ALMEIDA, EDUARDO A. B.. Taxonomic review of the elampine cuckoo wasps from northeastern Brazil (Hymenoptera: Chrysididae), with the description of three new species. Zootaxa, v. 5213, n. 3, p. 35-pg., 2022-11-25. (15/12326-3, 18/09666-5, 17/25081-4, 19/09215-6)