A genetic and morphological survey to trace the origin of Melipona beecheii (Apidae: Meliponini) from Cuba
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Original article
A genetic and morphological survey to trace the origin of Melipona beecheii (Apidae: Meliponini) from Cuba William de Jesús MAY-ITZÁ1 , Walberto Lóriga PEÑA2 , Pilar DE LA RÚA3 , José Javier G. QUEZADA-EÚAN1 1
Departamento de Apicultura, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida Yucatán México 2 Departamento de Prevención, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Agraria de la Habana, Havana Cuba 3 Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia Spain Received 26 February 2019 – Revised 5 September 2019 – Accepted 2 October 2019
Abstract – The stingless bee Melipona beecheii is extensively distributed across Mexico and Central America and the only Melipona found in the Greater Antilles. The aim of this work was to establish possible continental affinities of M. beecheii from the Antilles. We compared populations from the main island (Cuba) with two clearly separated genetic lineages of M. beecheii on mainland, namely the Yucatán peninsula (Mexico) and Costa Rica. We used morphometrics, the degree of cephalic maculation, and microsatellite variation. Results indicate a greater morphological and genetic similarity between populations from Cuba and the Yucatán peninsula with respect to those of Costa Rica. Based on our findings, we conclude that the origin of M. beecheii from Cuba is more likely the Yucatán peninsula (Mexico). We found evidence that isolation has not been large enough to result in a new genetic lineage. Melipona / morphology / microsatellites / Antilles / Mesoamerica
1. INTRODUCTION Stingless bees have been important for Mesoamerican civilizations as sources of food, medicine, and craft (Crane 1992; Quezada-Euán et al. 2001). The main species in Mesoamerica before European colonization was Melipona beecheii Bennett, 1831 (Quezada-Euán et al. 2018). Interestingly, in contrast with other areas of Mexico and Central America, this species continued being the most important bee for honey production in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico even after the introduction of Apis mellifera by European colonizers (Michener 1979, 1982; Genaro 2008). In-
Corresponding author: W. May-Itzá, [email protected] Manuscript editor: Klaus Hartfelder
deed, European honey bees were not introduced into the Yucatán until the early part of the twentieth century because M. beecheii produced honey and cerumen in large quantities in this area (González-Acereto 2008). The widely dispersed M. becheeii species coexists with Melipona variegatipes Gribodo, 1893 in the Antilles archipelago (Schwarz 1932) but showing a different distribution: while M. beecheii is presently reported in two of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica) (Genaro and Lóriga 2018), the other species is found in the Lesser Antilles (Schwarz 1932; Camargo et al. 1988). Previous comparison of a few Melipona specimens from Cuba and the Yucatán peninsula led Schwarz (1932) to propose they belonged to the species M. becheeii due to morphologi
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