Megalopta

Megalopta
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Halictidae
Subfamily:	Halictinae
Genus:	Megalopta Smith, 1853

Megalopta is a widespread neotropical genus of bees in the tribe Augochlorini in family Halictidae, known as the sweat bees.^[1] They are the largest of the five nocturnal genera in Augochlorini. Most have pale integumentary pigmentation, and all have large ocelli, most likely a feature of their nocturnal behavior.^[2] They live in tropical Central America and the entirety of South America. The subgenus Noctoraptor is cleptoparasitic.^[3] They are not known from the fossil record.^[4]

Megalopta was first described by Frederick Smith in 1853.^[5] The type species is Megalopta idalia, now known as Megalopta amoena.^[5][6] Most studies done on Megalopta are focused on M. genalis.

General description

Megalopta are up to 2 cm long. They have large ocelli and compound eyes, used for nocturnal foraging.^[7] They have a yellow/brown abdomen with dark brown banding and metallic green/yellow to bronze thorax and head.^[1]

Nocturnal behavior and vision

All species of Megalopta are believed to be nocturnal or crepuscular.^[4] In general, Megalopta exhibit bimodal foraging patterns and are active for about 90 minutes after the sun sets and before the sun rises,^[8] regardless of food availability.^[9] Males and females are active at slightly different times and the females usually have higher overall rates of activity.^[8] This is hypothesized to be a niche shift to avoid competition from diurnal bees, or perhaps to avoid predation^[9]

Insects generally have a pair of compound eyes accompanied by a trio of single-lensed ocelli on the top of their head.

Megalopta nest in dead branches, sticks, and vines. Their nests have a distinctive collar around the entrance made of chewed wood and consist of a large hollow tunnel and several cells.[4] The internal cells are made of the same chewed wood as the entrance. Megalopta are facultatively eusocial.^[2] Their nests range from single female nests up to eleven female nests, but social nests usually contain 2-4 females.^[15] As the dry season progresses, single female nests gradually shift into multiple female nests, a result of females hatching and remaining in the nest.^[4] Usually, at least one female offspring stays in the nest and does not reproduce or grow ovaries. She instead maintains the nest and forages while the foundress continues to reproduce.^[16] Eusocial communities have an overlap of generations of nest-mates, meaning that two or more broods must be laid and hatch during the mating season.^[17] Eggs are usually laid during the dry season and hatch after 35 days.^[4][17] Eggs laid in a drier dry season usually produce numerically more, larger individuals that are involved in reproduction, as opposed to a comparatively wet dry season, which produces fewer, smaller workers.^[17] The association between reproduction and the dry season is likely a result of floral availability.^[1] The benefits of solitary versus eusocial lifestyles change with the seasons. In the dry season, eusocial lifestyles provide productivity benefits while in the wet season, the benefits are typically insurance-based.^[18]

In a multi-female hive, there is typically one dominant female and the rest are considered supernumerary.^[17] The dominant female usually is macrocephalic and the oldest female in the hive.^[3] The dominant female is analogous to the queen in honeybee hives, and can also be called the queen or the foundress. The supernumerary females fall into two roles: foragers and in-nest. The in-nest females generally stay in the nest and guard the entrance, as well as hygiene-oriented tasks.^[15] Halictinae are mass-provisional, meaning they cache the food necessary for larval growth before the eggs are laid and do not interact with larvae during development.^[16] However, experimentally, foundresses have displayed the ability to identify issues within a sealed cell. The foundresses opened the cell to assess the condition of the larvae and consequently either found something wrong, aborted the larvae, and reused the cell, or found nothing wrong and resealed the cell. The larvae in the resealed cells developed normally.^[16] Another parental behavior performed by foundresses is hygienic-based: the removal of faeces from cells that produced healthy adults.^[16] These deviations from mass-provisional behaviors are thought to be a precursor to eusociality.^[16]

Gynandromorphy

Gynandromorphy is the presence of both female and male characteristics in a single organism. Two species of Megalopta have exhibited gynandromorphy: Megalopta amoena and the heavily studied Megalopta genalis. Both specimens had a bilateral split with male characteristics on the left and female characteristics on the right. In comparison to male or female individuals who have bimodal foraging periods, the gynandromorph's activity was shifted significantly earlier in the day.^[8] It is important to note that this study was based on a single specimen and generalizations about gynandromorphy in Megalopta cannot be made. Furthermore, this mutation is extremely rare, with only two specimens having been found in the entire genus.

Interactions with other species

Cogener cleptoparasitism has been observed in the subgenus Noctoraptor. This means that these bees parasitize other Megalopta species. M. byroni parasitizes M. genalis and M. ecuadoria, but most likely parasitizes other species[4]. In the case of Noctoraptor, cleptoparasitism takes the form of brood parasitism. Noctoraptor do not have the physiology to build nests or cells, making them obligate parasites that invade the nests of the other Megalopta to lay eggs.

Species and subgenera

There is considerable discourse on the phylogeny within Megalopta. One school of thought states Megalopta has two subgenera: Megalopta and Noctoraptor.^[2] The subgenus Noctoraptor was described in 1997, with the type species of M. byroni.^[20] M. byroni was the first known nocturnal parasitic bee.^[20] Noctoraptor can be differentiated from other Megalopta by anatomical differences that are linked to parasitism, including a reduced scopa, large scythe-shaped mandibles, and the lack of a basitibial plate.^[20] In newer literature, instead of being classified into the two subgenera, the divisions are made between five species groups: Aegis, Amoena, Yanomami, Byroni, and Sodalis. These groups are defined by similar physical characteristics. The Byroni species group contains the species that would be in Noctoraptor.^[6] These species groups have been determined for Megalopta in Brazil, so the species group listings do not include all known species.^[6] The species group system is not widely used.

Regardless of subgenera or species groups, Megalopta is most likely paraphyletic and is grouped with the genus Xenochlora, with the species M. atra being most closely related to Xenochlora over other Megalopta.^[21] Xenochlora may be a subgenus of Megalopta.^[21] M. atra is considered a highland species, while the rest of the genus is lowland. Megalopta, Megommation, and Megaloptidia form a single clade with a dim-light foraging ancestor. This implies that the Xenochlora clade reverted to diurnal foraging after the adaptations to nocturnal foraging evolved.^[21]

The species Megalopta amoena has been known under several different names: Megalopta ecuadoria, Megalopta centralis, Megalopta idalia, Megalopta gibbosa, Megalopta ochrias, Megalopta lecointei, and Megalopta vigilans.^[6]

List of species

Species groups^[6]

References