Offspring analysis in a polygyne colony of Melipona scutellaris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) by means of morphometric analyses

Abstract

In the few cases of polygyne colonies in Melipona the presence of active queens is common, generating offspring from different maternal origins. One of the techniques employed to identify maternity of the offspring is morphometric analysis, which allows inter- and intraspecific groups to be discriminated. The objective of this study was to identify the maternal source of Melipona scutellaris workers from a polygyne colony with five queens using wing morphometric analysis. The right forewings and hindwings of 209 workers were used. The workers came from a brood disk extracted from the colony and taken to a B.O.D. incubator maintained at 28±1°C and 75% relative humidity. Conventional and geometric morphometry analyses were made. Groups were discriminated, indicating that the material analyzed had different maternal origins, with predominance of one queen, which was responsible for 57% of the progeny. Cluster analysis allowed to confirm that the use of conventional morphometry can identify offspringgroups from existing queens in a M. scutellaris polygyne colony. However, such identification was not possible with geometric morphometry.