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Inferring host-cleptoparasite complexes of South American Centridine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) using macroecological perspectives

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Abstract

Bees are normally regarded as social insects that build hives and visit flowers to collect pollen to feed their offspring. However, throughout their evolutionary history, several lineages have lost these characteristics, and have instead, become cleptoparasites, depending on other bee species to raise their offspring. Since cleptoparasites depend on hosts to persist in a location, we could expect that the geographic distribution of the later also influences the distribution the former, mainly in specialized forms of parasitism. Moreover, we could also expect that cleptoparasites ecological niches would evolve to overlap with its respective host(s). Here, we applied multivariate bioclimatic niche analyses and species distribution models to evaluate the effects of host-cleptoparasite relationships on the distribution and ecological niche of Centris and Epiclopus from Chile. Based on our results, considering the species’ distribution range and multivariate niche overlaps, we were able to (1) evaluate the specificity of cleptoparasitism among host-parasite complexes and (2) infer the existence of still uncaptured relationships between the available host and cleptoparasite species. With our results in hand, it is possible to start discussing and decreasing the so-called Eltonian shortfall (lack of proper knowledge on the interactions each species maintains with others). Although not conclusive, these results support the need for continuous sampling of bees and insect species in general, in order to allow the unveiling and better description of their biological relationships.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers who provided valuable suggestions for a previous version of this manuscript. This paper is part of the SIGMA project No. 21565 MN/UFRJ and the contribution number 29 from the HYMN.

Funding

Financial support was provided to FV by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, grant 444320/2014-8), Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HYMN Laboratório de Hymenoptera, Departamento de Entomologia, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista, São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 20940-040, Brazil

    Felipe Vivallo

  2. Department of Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1137, St. Louis, MO, 63130-4899, USA

    Bruno Vilela

  3. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Barão de Geremoabo, 147, Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, 74001-970, Brazil

    Bruno Vilela

  4. Instituto Federal Goiano, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Instituto Federal Goiano, Urutaí, Goiás, 75790-000, Brazil

    Daniel Paiva Silva

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  1. Felipe Vivallo
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Correspondence to Daniel Paiva Silva.

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Vivallo, F., Vilela, B. & Silva, D.P. Inferring host-cleptoparasite complexes of South American Centridine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) using macroecological perspectives. Org Divers Evol 19, 179–190 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-019-00394-3

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