RMCA literature published elsewhere
Publication details
Freitas, FV., Branstetter, MG., Franceschini-Santos, VH., Dorchin, A., Wright, KW., López-Uribe, MM., Griswold, T., Silveira, FA. & Almeida, EAB. 2023. ‘UCE phylogenomics, biogeography, and classification of long-horned bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Eucerini), with insights on using specimens with extremely degraded DNA’. Insect Systematics and Diversity 7(4). DOI: doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixad012.
Article in a scientific Journal / Article in a Journal
Long-horned bees (Apidae, Eucerini) are found in different biomes worldwide and include some important
crop pollinators. In the Western Hemisphere, Eucerini received extensive taxonomic study during the twentieth
century, resulting in several revisions of its genera. In contrast, progress on eucerine phylogenetic research
and the genus-level classification has been slow, primarily due to the relatively homogeneous external morphology
within the tribe and the rarity of many of its species in collections. Here, we present a comprehensive
phylogenetic study of Eucerini based on ultraconserved elements, including 153 species from nearly all genera
and subgenera and from all biogeographic regions where they occur. Many of these specimens are from museums
and were collected as far back as 1909. We discuss the challenges of working with specimens with highly
degraded DNA, present insights into improving phylogenetic results for both species-tree and concatenation
approaches, and present a new pipeline for UCE curation (Curation of UltraconseRved Elements—CURE). Our
results show the existence of seven main lineages in Eucerini and most of the genera and subgenera to be
reciprocally monophyletic. Using a comprehensive and up-to-date phylogenetic framework, we: (1) propose
taxonomic changes, including a new subtribal classification and reorganized generic and subgeneric limits; (2)
estimate divergence times; and (3) conduct a detailed exploration of historical biogeography of long-horned
bees. We find that eucerine lineages expanded their range onto most continents only after their initial diversification
in southern South America during the Eocene.