Open AccessDiploid Male Production of Two AmazonianMeliponaBees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Author(s) -
Izaura Bezerra Francini,
Carlos Gustavo Nunes-Silva,
Gislene Almeida Carvalho-Zilse
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
psyche a journal of entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.168
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1687-7438
pISSN - 0033-2615
DOI - 10.1155/2012/484618
Subject(s) - stingless bee , biology , apidae , queen (butterfly) , hymenoptera , amazonian , sex ratio , pupa , zoology , ploidy , botany , amazon rainforest , ecology , larva , demography , population , genetics , sociology , gene
The diploid male has already been recorded for Melipona Illger, and herein, in Melipona seminigra merrillae Cockerell and Melipona interrupta manaosensis Schwarz. This paper was carried out at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, AM, Brazil. We produced and monitored 31 new colonies of M. s. merrillae and 32 new colonies of M. i. manaosensis. We sampled 2,995 pupae of M. s. merrillae and 2,020 of M. i. manaosensis. In colonies with a 1 : 1 sex ratio, male diploidy was confirmed by cytogenetic analysis and workers’ behavior. We estimated 16 sex-determining alleles in M. s. merrillae and 22 in M. i. manaosensis. In colonies of M. i. manaosensis in a 1 : 1 sex ratio, workers killed the males and the queen that produced them soon after they emerged, as predicted. This behavior was not registered for M. s. merrillae, and sex ratios did not stay 1 : 1, indicating polyandry for this species
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