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Conservation study of an endangered stingless bee (Melipona capixaba—Hymenoptera: Apidae) with restricted distribution in Brazil

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Abstract

Melipona capixaba, popularly known as “uruçu preta”, is a stingless bee restricted to the mountainous Atlantic Rainforest areas of Espírito Santo State, Brazil. Due to the endemism and small population size, this species discovered in 1994 is now considered “vulnerable to extinction”. Using ISSR, PCR–RFLP and microsatellites markers, we studied the genetic variability and structure of M. capixaba from 88 colonies collected throughout the distribution area of the species within Espírito Santo State. The microsatellite, ISSR and mitochondrial haplotype analyses showed that M. capixaba has low genetic variability compared to other insect species. The molecular analyses also indicated a high genetic similarity among the M. capixaba samples, with no clear pattern of structuring. The analyses of molecular variance results indicated that most of the total genetic variation in M. capixaba was explained by the genetic diversity within local populations. Results suggest that the analyzed samples could be treated as a single population for preservation purposes. Thus, given its endemism, local adaptation and low number of natural colonies, efforts for the conservation of M. capixaba should focus on preservation and increasing the number of colonies in the wild, so that M. capixaba can support constant captures and the effects of habitat deforestation in Espírito Santo State.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Brazilian agencies FAPEMIG (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais), CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico), CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) and UFV (Universidade Federal de Viçosa) for financial support. We are also grateful to the beekeepers that provided the bee samples used in this study, to Iris Raimundo Stanciola for the technical assistance during sampling expeditions and to Dr. Cosme Damião Cruz from Universidade Federal de Viçosa for statistical assistance with the GENES program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. P H Rolfs, s/n, CEP: 36.570-000, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Juliano Nogueira, Josemar de Carvalho Ramos, Juliana Benevenuto, Tânia Maria Fernandes-Salomão, Helder Canto Resende, Lucio Antonio de Oliveira Campos & Mara Garcia Tavares

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  1. Juliano Nogueira
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  2. Josemar de Carvalho Ramos
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  3. Juliana Benevenuto
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  4. Tânia Maria Fernandes-Salomão
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  5. Helder Canto Resende
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  6. Lucio Antonio de Oliveira Campos
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Correspondence to Mara Garcia Tavares.

Electronic supplementary material

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10841_2014_9639_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Online Resource 1 Allelic frequencies estimated for the four microsatellite loci isolated from Melipona capixaba. Codes are the same as in Table 1 (DOC 51 kb)

10841_2014_9639_MOESM2_ESM.doc

Online Resource 2 Genetic distances among the five populations of Melipona capixaba analyzed. A) Matrix of genetic distance analyzed with ISSR (above diagonal) and microsatellite markers (below diagonal). B) Matrix of genetic distance that was constructed based on the estimated number of nucleotide substitutions within restriction sites between haplotypes tRNA/COI. Codes are the same as in Table 1 (DOC 36 kb)

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Nogueira, J., Ramos, J.C., Benevenuto, J. et al. Conservation study of an endangered stingless bee (Melipona capixaba—Hymenoptera: Apidae) with restricted distribution in Brazil. J Insect Conserv 18, 317–326 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9639-3

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