Isoenzyme variation in Melipona rufiventris (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Meliponina) in Minas Gerais State, Brazil.
The stingless bee Melipona rufiventris is an important pollinator in several Brazilian ecosystems. Originally widely distributed in Minas Gerais (MG) state, this species is becoming very rare. Therefore this species was included in the endangered species list of MG. We used isoenzyme data for a better understanding of the genetic structure of several M. rufiventris colonies. Samples of 35 colonies were collected from 12 localities and evaluated by nine enzymatic systems, which yielded 17 loci. M. rufiventris genetic variation was found to be low, typical of an endangered species. The proportion of polymorphic loci was 5.88% in both ecosystems. Only Est-4 was polymorphic in colonies from the Forest and Mdh-1 in colonies from the Cerrado. The expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.0068 in the Cerrado to 0.0078 in the Forest. Despite this, enzyme electrophoretic analyses provided a good idea of the diversity between samples from Cerrado and Forest which reinforce the existence of two different "forms" of M. rufiventris in MG, one present in the Cerrado and the other in Forest. This information is of great importance for the conservation of M. rufiventris in MG.
Costa
Ronaldo Guimarães
RG
Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. PH Rolfs, s/n, CEP: 36.570-000 Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Tavares
Mara Garcia
MG
Dias
Luiz Antonio dos Santos
LA
Campos
Lucio Antonio de Oliveira
LA
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001938:Brazil; D004592:Electrophoresis, Starch Gel; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005843:Geography; D006579:Heterozygote; D007178:Inbreeding; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male
D007527:Isoenzymes