The Antiquity and Evolutionary History of Social Behavior in Bees

A long-standing controversy in bee social evolution concerns whether highly eusocial behavior has evolved once or twice within the corbiculate Apidae. Corbiculate bees include the highly eusocial honey bees and stingless bees, the primitively eusocial bumble bees, and the predominantly solitary or communal orchid bees. Here we use a model-based approach to reconstruct the evolutionary history of eusociality and date the antiquity of eusocial behavior in apid bees, using a recent molecular phylogeny of the Apidae. We conclude that eusociality evolved once in the common ancestor of the corbiculate Apidae, advanced eusociality evolved independently in the honey and stingless bees, and that eusociality was lost in the orchid bees. Fossil-calibrated divergence time estimates reveal that eusociality first evolved at least 87 Mya (78 to 95 Mya) in the corbiculates, much earlier than in other groups of bees with less complex social behavior. These results provide a robust new evolutionary framework for studies of the organization and genetic basis of social behavior in honey bees and their relatives

Revision of the cleptoparasitic bee tribe Isepeolini (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae)

Volume: 54Start Page: 257End Page: 28

Hylaeus punctatus (Brull\ue9)(Colletidae), a Palaearctic bee long established in South America

Volume: 15Start Page: 286End Page: 28

A revision of the South American bee genus Leptometriella Roig-Alsina (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Emphorini)

A. Roig-Alsina (2008): A revision of the South American bee genus Leptometriella Roig-Alsina (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Emphorini). Zootaxa 1688: 20-36, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18059

Sceliphron curvatum, una nueva avispa invasora en la Argentina (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)

Se registra la introducción, en la Argentina, de la avispa esfeciforme Sceliphron curvatum (Smith), una avispa asiática que se ha comportado como invasora en Europa. Ésta se ha encontrado en la ciudad de Buenos Aires y en el partido de Vicente López, provincia de Buenos Aires. Se dan sus características morfológicas y de comportamiento, y se compara con las dos especies nativas de Sceliphron Klug que habitan en América del Sur, ambas existentes en la Argentina. Se presenta una clave con ilustraciones, distribución y diagnosis para las tres especies

Revision of the ocellatus species-group of the genus Plumarius Philippi 1873 (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Plumariidae), with description of three new species from Argentina

Diez, Patricia A., Fidalgo, Patricio, Roig-Alsina, Arturo (2013): Revision of the ocellatus species-group of the genus Plumarius Philippi 1873 (Hymenoptera, Chrysidoidea, Plumariidae), with description of three new species from Argentina. Zootaxa 3721 (1): 85-91, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3721.1.

Wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in an urban botanical garden in Buenos Aires, Argentina

We assessed bee diversity and abundance in a botanical garden in the city of Buenos Aires during two consecutive spring–summer periods. Every 15 days, we collected by hand-netting bee specimens seen foraging on flowers during five-minute censuses at every entomophilous herbaceous plant. A total of 66 bee species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) were recorded. Richness and abundance of native, generalist, and above-ground nesting (cavities) species were higher than that of exotic, specialist, and below-ground (soil) nesting ones, respectively. Social bees were more abundant, while the richness of solitary species was higher than that of social bees. Cleptoparasitic species were represented by a high number of species, even though only a few individuals were captured. Our results suggest that the studied area is an important bee reservoir within the city.Fil: Mazzeo, Nadia Melisa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Cátedra de Botánica General; ArgentinaFil: Torretta, Juan Pablo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Cátedra de Botánica General; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin