Cytogenetic characterization of two species of Frieseomelitta Ihering, 1912 (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)

• Main Authors: Antônio F. Carvalho, Marco Antônio Costa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Genética 2011-01-01
• Series: Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Subjects: Hymenoptera; Frieseomelitta; interspecific differentiation; C-banding; heterochromatin
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572011000200012

The cytogenetic analysis of Frieseomelitta dispar and F. francoi revealed the chromosome numbers 2n = 30 and n = 15 and a karyotypic formula 2K = 4M+2Mt+4A+20A M. The number of chromosomes observed was consistent with those reported for other Frieseomelitta species. The occurrence of the Mt chromosome and other features of the karyotype formulae suggest a close relationship between F. dispar, F. francoi and F. varia. Nevertheless, it was possible to differentiate the karyotypes of the species by DAPI/CMA3 staining, which revealed GC-rich regions on two chromosome pairs of F. dispar: one acrocentric and one pseudoacrocentric. In F. francoi, the same kinds of regions were observed on a pair of metacentrics and on a pair of acrocentrics. Our analysis also confirmed the chromosome number conservation in Frieseomelitta and suggests that infrequent pericentric inversion could constitute a synapomorphy for the group including F. dispar, F. francoi, and F. varia.