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Monoandry and polyandry in bumble bees (Hymenoptera; Bombinae) as evidenced by highly variable microsatellites
Author(s) -
Estoup A.,
Scholl A.,
Pouvreau A.,
Solignac M.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.1995.tb00195.x
Subject(s) - biology , microsatellite , hymenoptera , loss of heterozygosity , subgenus , zoology , bombus terrestris , allele , queen (butterfly) , ecology , genetics , genus , pollen , pollination , gene , pollinator
Abstract Highly variable microsatellites enabled a precise assessment of the number of queen matings in the colonies of five bumble bee species. Fifteen of the sixteen microsatellites initially cloned from B. terrestris had flanking regions similar enough to allow PCR amplification on the other Bombus species analysed. The microsatellites selected for intracolony study (four per species) were characterized by a high heterozygosity (0.58–0.93) and a large number of alleles (3–18) in the local populations from which the colonies originated. A single male appeared to have inseminated the queens in the colonies of four species, B. terrestris, B. lucorum, B. lapidarius and B. pratorum , which belong to three subgenera, whereas two of the three analysed colonies of B. hypnorum were polyandrous (minimum number of two and four patrilines, respectively).