A grant has been awarded to Dr. Bryan N. Danforth of Cornell University to investigate the phylogeny and historical biogeography of the bee family Colletidae. This is one of the seven currently recognized families of bees and represents over 900 species of the approximately 16,000 species of bees in the world. Colletid bees are particularly interesting because they are considered by many experts to represent the most primitive bee family. In fact, this family may represent a transitional stage in the evolution of bees from wasps. This is also an important family from the perspective of biogeography. Members of the Colletidae are most diverse in the southern hemisphere and their current distribution suggests they were present on the southern continent of Gondwana before its fragmentation during the Cretaceous period (140 to 65 million years ago). Like ratite birds (Ratitae), southern beeches (Nothofagus), and vespid wasps (Vespidae), colletid bees are an ideal group for investigating historical biogeography because their phylogenetic relationships appear to reflect the fragmentation of Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous. The project has three main goals: (1) conduct a phylogenetic study of the colletid subfamilies, tribes, and genera on a worldwide basis based both on morphology and molecular (DNA sequence) data. Second (2), focus efforts at the generic, subgeneric, and species levels on the largest and most taxonomically difficult (and very likely polyphyletic) colletid subfamily, Colletinae. The study of Colletinae depends on a revised higher level classification for Colletidae as a whole because the former will probably be divided into smaller but monophyletic subfamilies. Finally (3), analyze historical biogeographic patterns based on phylogenetic hypothesis in order to test the prediction that the colletid bees reflect Gondwanan fragmentation, and to compare these results with other studies of groups with similar distributions.
This project will expand understanding of the relationships and classification of the most important pollinators of flowering plants (bees), and will have implications for crop pollination, biodiversity, and conservation. This project will provide educational and research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at Cornell University. Students involved with the project will gain experience in basic molecular biology as well as training in the specific fields of insect systematics, bee biology and host-plant associations, and biogeography. This project will lead to collaborative research efforts among US as well as Brazilian, South African, Australian, and Canadian colleagues. Additionally, the award will develop a web site on bee phylogeny, historical biogeography, diversity, and molecular systematics. This web site will disseminate results to the widest audience possible. The study will make use of the recently published complete genomic sequence of the honey bee (funded by the USDA).
