Henriquez-Piskulich, P. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

A supermatrix phylogeny of the world's bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila)

The increasing availability of large phylogenies has provided new opportunities to study the evolution of species traits, their origins and diversification, and biogeography; yet, with the exception of butterflies, taxonomically well-curated phylogenies are currently lacking for major insect groups. Bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) are a large group of insect pollinators that have a worldwide distribution, and a wide variation in ecology, morphology, and life-history traits, including sociality. For these reasons, as well as their major economic importance as pollinators, numerous molecular phylogenetic studies of relationships between and/or within families or genera for this group have been published. We used publicly available sequence data, a family-level phylogenomic backbone, and ultra-conserved element (UCE) data, reconciled to a taxonomic database, to produce a dated phylogeny for bees. The phylogeny comprises 4651 bee species, representing 23% of species and 86% of genera. At family, subfamily, and tribe levels, the data were robust, but between and within some genera relationships remain uncertain. In addition, most of the species with available sequence data are geographically distributed in North America and Europe, highlighting gaps that should be considered in future research to improve our understanding of bee evolution and phylogeography. We provide a summary of the current state of molecular data available and its gaps, and discuss the advantages and limitations of this bee supermatrix phylogeny (available online at beetreeoflife.org), which may enable new insights into long standing questions about evolutionary drivers in bees, and potentially insects. HighlightsO_LIBee supermatrix phylogeny constructed with public and published sequence data. C_LIO_LIIncludes 23% of currently recognised species and covers 86% of genera. C_LIO_LIProvides a summary of remaining gaps in bee phylogenetics. C_LIO_LIAvailable online at beetreeoflife.org, with subsetting tool to facilitate comparative analyses. C_LI

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Chilean bee diversity: Contrasting patterns of species and phylogenetic turnover along a large-scale ecological gradient

Chiles isolation and varied climates have driven the evolution of a unique biodiversity with a high degree of endemism. The Mediterranean-type biome of Central Chile is one of 35 global biodiversity hotspots and has been highlighted as one of Chiles most endangered areas. It is threatened by anthropogenic land use change impacting the integrity of local biomes and associated species. This area holds the most extensive collections of the country with high endemicity regarding native bee species. Characterising habitat requirements of bees is a pressing priority to safeguard them and the ecosystem services they provide. We investigated broad-scale patterns of bee diversity using newly accessible expert-validated datasets comprising digitized specimen records from both Chilean and US collections and novel, expert-validated type specimen data for the bees of Chile. We used a generalised dissimilarity modelling (GDM) approach to explore both compositional and phylogenetic {beta}-diversity patterns across latitudinal, altitudinal, climate and habitat gradients in well-sampled bee assemblages in Central Chile. Using the GDM measures of increasing compositional and environmental dissimilarity we categorised and compared the most important drivers of these patterns and used them to classify wild bee ecoregions (WBE) representing unique assemblages. Turnover of bee assemblages was explained primarily by latitudinal variation (proxy for climate) along Chile. However, temperature variations, precipitation and the presence of bare soil also significantly explained the observed patterns. In comparison, we observed less turnover in phylogenetic biodiversity corresponding to spatial gradients. We were able to develop six de novo ecoregions (WBE) all with distinct taxa, endemic lineages, and representative species. The WBE represent distinct spatial classifications but have similarities to existing biogeographical classifications, ecosystems and bioclimatic zones. This approach establishes the baseline needed to prioritise bee species conservation efforts across this global biodiversity hotspot. We discuss the novelty of this classification considering previous biogeographical characterisations and its relevance for assessing conservation priorities for bee conservation. We argue that Chiles WBE show areas requiring funding for bee species exploration and description, distribution mapping and strengthening of conservation policies.

ecology↗