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Insights into the biodiversity of the Succulent Karoo hotspot of South Africa: the population genetics of a rare and endemic halictid bee, Patellapis doleritica

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Abstract

Population genetic analyses are especially relevant for species considered threatened or highly endemic and for which other forms of biological information are lacking. Patellapis doleritica is a recently described communally nesting halictid bee of conservation concern because it is rare and endemic to the Succulent Karoo of South Africa. Moreover, its dispersal is considered to be restricted by its specialised nesting requirements and inclement weather conditions during its limited annual flight period, traits which may be common to other bee species of the region. We hypothesised that gene flow in P. doleritica was low, leading to marked genetic differentiation. Using 7 microsatellites, we investigated its mating and population genetic structure in 258 individuals (171 females and 87 males) from 7 populations spanning most of its known range. Deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (FIS = + 0.254) suggested P. doleritica to be inbred, as in many other communal nesting bee species. Global FST (0.028) and global G′ST (0.216) revealed modest but significant differentiation between most populations, even across the very limited range of the species (ca. 25 km), with one genetically extreme outlier population. Despite inbreeding, we detected a surprisingly low frequency of diploid males (2 %). Patellapis doleritica nevertheless deserves special conservation attention since it is an endemic species with a low overall abundance and therefore possibly prone to environmental change and local extinction.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Martin Schlegel for laboratory support and both him and Christoph Bleidorn for stimulating discussion and suggestions. Our thanks also go to Kim Timmermann, who provided us with literature on P. doleritica, Annemarie Geißler, Panagiotis Theodorou and Petra Leibe for their technical assistance. We also appreciate the very helpful correspondence with Patrick Meirmans, Nils Ryman and Michael Matschiner over research reported in this paper. MK is much indebted to the farmers in the vicinity of Nieuwoudtville and the Hantam Botanical Garden who provided access to their land for this study and Northern Cape Nature Conservation Service for giving their permission to collect bees. Hergen Erhardt and Ulrike Gigengack enthusiastically helped to collect bees at various occasions for this and other projects in the wider Nieuwoudtville area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Evolution & Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Talstraße 33, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Belinda Kahnt & Michael Gerth

  2. General Zoology, Institute of Biology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 8, 06120, Halle, Germany

    Belinda Kahnt, Antonella Soro & Robert J. Paxton

  3. Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Michael Kuhlmann

  4. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Robert J. Paxton

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  1. Belinda Kahnt
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  2. Antonella Soro
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  3. Michael Kuhlmann
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  4. Michael Gerth
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Correspondence to Belinda Kahnt.

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Kahnt, B., Soro, A., Kuhlmann, M. et al. Insights into the biodiversity of the Succulent Karoo hotspot of South Africa: the population genetics of a rare and endemic halictid bee, Patellapis doleritica . Conserv Genet 15, 1491–1502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-014-0633-9

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