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Sting Glands in Stingless Bees: A Vestigial Character (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

1962; BioOne; Volume: 70; Linguagem: Inglês

1937-2361

Warwick Estevam Kerr, E. Lello,

Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

The problem of what has occurred to the sting accessories of the stingless bees is considered. Primitive Meliponini retain the sac homologous to the sac of the acid gland of stinging bees; evolved stingless bees do not have this sac in the workers but do have it in the queens. Since Apis mellifera lose their stings as a result of use of the sting in defense, the authors suggest that new methods of defense evolved which do not exact a heavy toll of the colony. The fact that there are at least thirteen ways in which stingless bees protect themselves, makes stings obsolete. In 24 species of Apinae it has been possible to correlate different levels of evolution with: nests, com? munication systems, mandibular glands and cytology. A diagrammatic rep? resentation of evolutionary levels reached by each species is presented. Social Apidae belong to three different tribes, namely, Bom bini, Apini and Meliponini. This last group is known as sting? less bees because the workers have no sting. It has conserva? tively, 5 genera (Melipona, Trigona, Lestrimelitta, Dactylurina, Meliponula). Sting accessories (sting acid gland, poison sac and basic gland) of Apis mellifera L. have been known since 1841 (Bordas 1895 and Snodgrass 1956). The problem we want to solve is: what has happened with the sting accessories in the stingless bees since they no longer possess a sting. The only stingless bee with a poison gland is Trigona (Oxytrigona) tataira P. Smith the poison glands of which are located in the base of the mandibles (Kerr and Cruz 1961) and not in the abdomen.