One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a neuroethologic analysis of the cleptoparasitic L. limao bee

• Grant number: 24/16893-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Grantee: Mayara de Oliveira Gallo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The relationship between neuromorphology and behavior has been studied in social bees over the recent years. However, surprisingly, this connection has not yet been analyzed in Lestrimelitta limao. This species is different of the commonly known eusocial bees: without the corbiculae and a direct relationship with pollination, L. limao has obligatory kleptobiotic behavior, that is, they depend on pollen, nectar and other resources plundered from the nests of other species of social bees, using the citral released by their mandibular glands as a kind of chemical weapon capable of confusing host individuals. The morphological variation among individuals of nest with different behavioral subcastes can be a potential starting point to investigate this relationship, especially in the case of older individuals, such as guards and foragers, which are responsible by outside duties of the colony. In addition to this possible variation, the neuromorphology of this species will be investigated in an unprecedented way, focusing on the analysis of the antennal lobes, central body, optic lobes and mushroom bodies, which will help in the process of understanding the discrepancy between its aggressive and kleptobiotic behavior and other commonly behaviors of shared by other stingless bees. To this end, individuals from different subcastes from three natural nests of L. limao, located at the USP campus at Ribeirão Preto, will be used. Through fluorescence immunohostochemistry and brain volumetric analysis between different behavioral groups, it will be analyzed whether the relationship between brain morphology (volumetry) and behavioral plasticity applies to the species.