Molecular Phylogeny of Stingless Bees: A Framework For Historical Biogeography and Behavior

高度社会化的蜜蜂代表了社会生活和复杂通信系统进化的高峰。 这些蜜蜂主要由蜜蜂（Apini）和无刺蜜蜂（Meliponini）代表。 该项目的主要目的是在世界范围内重建一个支持良好的无刺蜜蜂系统发育关系树，以便最终破译动物中最迷人的通信系统之一的起源和发展：蜜蜂的舞蹈语言。 满载花蜜和花粉返回的觅食者的舞蹈为其他殖民地成员编码了巢外最有价值的花朵的位置。 不幸的是，由于今天生活的所有蜜蜂物种都拥有舞蹈语言，并且是唯一获得这种非凡交流系统的社会昆虫，因此无法直接研究它们以了解舞蹈语言是如何进化的。 人们必须向它们的近亲无刺蜂寻求见解。 事实上，无刺蜂在群体配偶之间具有非常多样的觅食交流机制，可以通过研究来阐明可能导致舞蹈的可能进化途径。 解释这一途径需要了解组成无刺蜂的不同属和亚属的进化历史。 在这个项目中，代表225个物种的大约50个亚属的亲缘关系将从5个基因片段的DNA序列中重建，这些基因片段已被初步研究证明是解决无刺蜂关系的最佳选择。 这五个基因包括一个线粒体基因（16 S rRNA）和四个核基因（EF-1 α，视蛋白，精氨酸激酶和无翅）。 已经收集了大量物种进行测序，其余的物种将在项目期间收集，主要来自拉丁美洲和新几内亚。 将使用DNA测序的标准程序，初步的计算机分析的试点分子数据表明，这五个基因将产生一个良好的支持基因组。 为了了解蜜蜂令人惊叹的通讯系统，我们必须探索近亲无刺蜂的工作和机制，以寻找进化的线索。 这需要一个无刺蜂的繁殖，这将在本研究项目的过程中发展。 世界各地的实验室正在进行的关于招聘通信系统的研究将根据这一得到充分支持的研究进展得到推进。 这一进化框架有望洞察收敛的途径和历史的限制，在精确的语言的发展，和一个难得的机会，以揭示历史和适应之间的相互作用，在这种语言的进化。 该项目的培训和教育部分将为博士生提供最先进的工具和经验，以便在系统学和热带昆虫生物多样性领域建立职业生涯。 来自贫困背景的本科生将有机会进行独立的研究，有可能导致生物学的刺激职业生涯。 这项研究将有助于了解热带雨林中世界上最重要的传粉者之一的生物多样性。 许多种类的无刺蜂仍有待发现、命名和描述。 在发展中国家，增加对无刺蜂多样性的了解有可能通过增加农村地区的无刺蜂蜂蜜生产来刺激新的经济发展。

The highly social bees represent a peak in the evolution of social living and sophisticated communication systems. Such bees are represented predominantly by the honey bees (Apini) and the stingless bees (Meliponini). The primary aim of this project is to reconstruct a well supported tree of phylogenetic relationships of the stingless bees on a world scale so as to ultimately decipher the origins and development of one of the most fascinating communication systems known among animals: the dance language of the honey bee. The dance of a returning forager laden with nectar and pollen encodes for other colony members the position of the most rewarding flowers outside the nest. Unfortunately, because all species of honey bees living today possess a dance language and are the only social insects to have acquired this extraordinary communication system, they cannot be studied directly for insights into how the dance language evolved. One must instead turn to their near relatives, the stingless bees, for insights. Indeed, stingless bees possess exceptionally diverse mechanisms of forager communication among colony mates, which can be studied to elucidate possible evolutionary pathways that may have led to the dance. Interpreting this pathway requires knowledge of the evolutionary history of the diverse genera and subgenera that make up the stingless bees. For this project, the phylogeny of approximately 50 subgenera representing 225 species will be reconstructed from DNA sequences of five gene fragments that have been shown by preliminary research to be excellent for resolving relationships of stingless bees. The five genes include a mitochondrial gene (16S rRNA) and four nuclear genes (EF-1alpha, opsin, arginine kinase and wingless). A large number of species have been collected for sequencing and remaining groups will be collected during the course of the project, primarily from Latin America and New Guinea. Standard procedures for DNA sequencing will be used and preliminary computer analyses of pilot molecular data indicate these five genes will yield a well supported phylogeny. To understand the stunning communication system of the honey bee, we must probe into the workings and mechanisms of close relatives, the stingless bees, for evolutionary clues. This requires a phylogeny of the stingless bees, which will be developed during the course of this research project. Ongoing research by laboratories around the world on recruitment communication systems will be advanced in light of this well supported phylogeny. This evolutionary framework promises insights into convergent pathways and historical constraints in the development of precise language, and a rare opportunity to reveal the interplay between history and adaptation in the evolution of such language. The training and educational components of the project will provide a PhD student with state-of-the-art tools and experience for establishing a career in the field of systematics and tropical insect biodiversity. An undergraduate from an underprivileged background will have the opportunity to undertake independent research that has the potential to lead to a stimulating career in biology. This research will contribute to an understanding of the biodiversity of one of the world's most important pollinators in tropical rain forests. Many species of stingless bees remain to be discovered, named and described. In developing countries, increased knowledge of stingless bee diversity has the potential to stimulate new economic development through growth of stingless bee honey production in rural areas.