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Sex determination in bees. XVII. Systems of caste determination in the Apinae, Meliponinae and Bombinae and their phylogenetical implications^*

Warwick Estevam Kerr

Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Maranhao, Largo dos Amores, 21, 65000 Sib Luís, MA, Brasil

ABSTRACT

The generalized distances of Mahalanobis between queens, males and workers have been estimated in the literature for 5 Apidae species. Queen-to-worker distance is shorter than male-toworker distance in Apis mellifera (0.6), but is longer, i.e., workers resemble more the males than the true females (queens) in Melipona compressipes (1.8), M. marginata (1.4), M. quadrifasciata (1.1) and Melipona scutellaris (1.7). This paper shows that the ratio of queen-to-worker distance divided by male-to-worker distance in Bombus atratus (2.7) is similar to that found in Melipona. The proposed hypothesis is that juvenile hormone levels above some threshold turn on the femaleness determining genes in Bombinae and Meliponinae and this determines queen development; its production below a given level does not turn on the femaleness determining genes and thus the female pupae acquire masculinoid characters. A phylogenetic diagram of relationships ' is proposed that tentatively puts both Bombinae and Meliponinae closer to each other than any of them to Apinae.

Keywords: sex; determination; bees; caste; Apinae; Meliponinae; Bombinae; phylogenetical.

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* Presented at the 10th International Congress of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI), München, FDR, August 18, 1986