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. 2018 Nov 14;14(11):20180530.
doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0530.

Pollinivory and the diversification dynamics of bees

Elizabeth A Murray  1 , Silas Bossert  2 , Bryan N Danforth  2
Affiliations

Pollinivory and the diversification dynamics of bees

Elizabeth A Murray et al. Biol Lett. .

Abstract

Pollinivory-the consumption of pollen rather than arthropod prey-is a defining feature of bees (Anthophila; the flower lovers). In virtually all bee species, larvae consume a diet composed of pollen mixed with nectar or floral oils. Bees arose from within a group of solitary, carnivorous, apoid wasps in the Early to Mid-Cretaceous, coincident with the rapid rise of flowering plants. It is assumed that the switch from carnivory to pollen-feeding was a key innovation that led to the rapid diversification of bees, but this has never been examined empirically. Here, we explore the hypothesis that pollinivory led to the increased diversification of bees. In contrast to common perception, we find that the switch to pollen-feeding per se does not explain their extensive diversification. Rather, our results indicate that pollinivory was a necessary but not sufficient condition for diversification, and that other complementary innovations, such as a broadening of host-plant diet, allowed the diversification of the major bee lineages. Our results have broad implications for understanding tempo and mode of bee diversification dynamics in light of their floral resources.

Keywords: Apoidea; bees; diversification; oligolecty; pollinivory.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Diversification dynamics of bees (Anthophila) and apoid wasps. (a) Dated phylogeny of Apoidea, based on Sann et al. [2]. Branches are coloured according to net diversification rates from bamm. The rate configuration with the highest posterior probability consisted of a single rate shift (f = 0.67), which is indicated by the red circle. The arrows indicate increases (red) and a decrease (blue) in diversification rates (r) identified through the maximum-likelihood-based method medusa (electronic supplementary material, figures S1–S4). We found no significant support for an increase in diversification along the branch of bees on which the evolutionary transition to pollen-feeding occurred. Family names follow the new classification of Sann et al. [2], and the chronogram corresponds to their tree 3. The family Bembicidae is followed by an asterisk owing to the placement of another family (Heterogynaidae) within. Scale bars next to specimens correspond to 2 mm. (b) Profiles of the two different diversification dynamics within bees, as identified by bamm. The average net diversification rate (solid lines) is 0.051 for Melittidae, and 0.080 for the remaining bee lineages combined. Dashed lines show speciation rates. (c) Clade-specific diversification rates from the phylogeny-independent method-of-moments estimator with ɛ = 0.5. Net diversification is inferred from both stem and crown ages. The shaded area indicates the 95% CI of the linear regression (F1,11 = 221.4, p ≤ 0.0001, R2 = 0.948, from the 13 samples for which stem and crown ages are available). Four groups did not have crown ages and are represented by square symbols. These are plotted at their stem-based rate value, but are placed directly on the regression line as an estimate of their crown-based rates. Lineages that mainly comprise generalist pollen-feeding species (orange) have higher mean diversification rates than the remaining groups (two-sample t14.99 = 12.452, p < 0.0001; based on stem age values).
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