A review of deviant phenotypes in bees in relation to brood parasitism,and a gynandromorph of Megalopta genalis (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) |
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Abstract: | We review the occurrence of gynandromorphy in 64 species of bee, and describe the abnormal traits as deviations from the male or female wild-type. Pheno-deviants occur at approximately equal frequency among the main body regions (head, thorax, metasoma). Cross-sex expression of character states occur more often among females (i.e. deviant expression of male-like traits) than among males (i.e. deviant expression of female-like traits). Such pathologies demonstrate how developmental switch mechanisms might generate novel structural traits similar to those expressed as a syndrome of brood parasitic traits. We also describe the first known gynandromorphic bee in the tribe Augochlorini, a specimen of the nocturnal bee, Megalopta genalis. |
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Keywords: | Gynandromorph development deviant brood parasitism morphology |
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