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New species and unexpected diversity of socially parasitic bees in the genus Inquilina Michener (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apidae)
Author(s) -
Smith Jaclyn A.,
Schwarz Michael P.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
insect science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1744-7917
pISSN - 1672-9609
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7917.2009.01266.x
Subject(s) - biology , parasitism , hymenoptera , apidae , phylogenetic tree , apoidea , zoology , taxonomy (biology) , population , ecology , genus , evolutionary biology , host (biology) , genetics , demography , sociology , gene
Abstract Allodapine bees present particular problems for taxonomy due to a high level of morphological conservatism in adults, even between genera. However, this tribe of bees also presents a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of social parasitism because of the comparatively large number of origins of socially parasitic species. Morphological differences presented here, along with DNA sequence data and molecular phylogenetic analyses, indicate a much larger number of Australian social parasite species in the genus Inquilina than previously anticipated, and suggest that the final number of socially parasitic species may be considerable. We describe five new species and present sequence data that will help elucidate the delineation of further new species. Inquilina provides a unique opportunity to study the evolution of social parasitism in social insects, but further studies will need to encompass both population genetic and phylogenetic approaches.