D3561: Phylogenomics of the oil-collecting bees Tapinotaspidini based on UCEs: Revisiting past classifications and the recognition of two enigmatic lineages

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM MST

Location: Phoenix Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 6, PCC

Presenting Author(s)

AA

Antonio Aguiar

Universidade de Brasilia
Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil

Co-Author(s)

Felipe Vieira Freitas

Postdoctoral researcher
Universidade de São Paulo
Ribeirão Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil
MB

Michael G. Branstetter

Research Entomologist
USDA-ARS
Logan, Utah
VF

Vinicius Franceschini-Santos

Universidade de São Paulo
Ribeirão Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil
EA

Eduardo A. B. Almeida

Universidade de São Paulo
Ribeirão Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Here, we improve the classification of the oil-collecting bees of the tribe Tapinotaspidini (Apidae: Eucerinae), implementing a phylogenomic analysis based on ultra-conserved elements—UCEs. We sampled all the current accepted genera of the tribe, as well as some species with doubtful generic placement. New sequences were generated and analyzed with disposable sequences of gene fragments of GenBank. Our phylogeny supports the main results already provided by isolated fragments, although Chalepogenus and Tropidopedia were not recovered as monophyletic. The genus Chalepogenus comprises three distinct lineages, all of which had previously been described and diagnosed by Michener and Moure in the late 1950s. The species of Tropidopedia were grouped into two independent lineages, thus making one of them worthy of recognition as a new genus in the Paratetrapedia lineage. Our results agree with much of the classification proposed by Michener and Moure, except for one undescribed enigmatic lineage. A new generic key will allow the diagnosis tapinotaspidine genera and and stabilize a classification that has been largely misunderstood for the last seven decades.