Phylogenetic analysis of the corbiculate Apinae based on morphology of the sting apparatus (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

This thesis aims to test the various competing hypotheses regarding the relationships among the four tribes of corbiculate apine bees (Euglossini “orchid bees”, Bombini “bumble bees”, Meliponini “stingless bees”, and Apini “honey bees”) against a completely new set of previously unstudied morphological characters. A cladistic analysis based on morphological characters derived from the sting apparatus was performed. In all of the morphological analyses to date, the posterior abdominal segments including the sting apparatus have been largely ignored. The result was one most parsimonious tree of 49 steps, CI = 89, RI = 93 that is perfectly congruent with most studies based on morphological and combined morphological/molecular data, i.e., Euglossini + (Bombini + (Meliponini + Apini)), but does not support the results based upon just molecular data.