Estudo comparativo de algumas glândulas das abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) e respectivas implicações evolutivas

• Autor(a) principal: Landim, Carminda da Cruz
• Data de Publicação: 1967
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de Zoologia (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/azmz/article/view/11932

The present paper presents comparative studies of the salivary gland system (including mandibular gland, hypopharingeal glands and salivary glands proper) of 78 bee species, belonging to the families Colletidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, Megachilidae, Anthophoridae and Apidae, as well as studies of the wax and scent glands in the social Apidae (Bombini, Meliponini and Apini). The aim of the comparisons, involving situation, histology, morphology and morphogenesis, was to elucidate possible evolutionary relationships among different groups. It was confirmed that the histology of different glands was more or less constant, while localization, morphology and degree of differentiation differed considerably from group to group. Bees considered primitive based upon other criteria, such as habits, external morphology, etc., showed, in general, the simpler and less differentiated glandular organization. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that the evolutionary tendency is, in general, for an increase of secretive surface in each glandular system. Thus the Apidae possess the largest secretive surface among all bee groups examined. The only exception to this general tendency concerns the wax glands, whose secretive surface was larger in the Bombini than in the more specialized Meliponini and Apini. But it is still open to question whether or not the wax glands of Bombus are more efficient than those in the other two tribes. However, it is apparent that in general the comparisons are more illuminating within subfamilies than between them. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made to apply the data to a tentative philogenetic tree of bees so as to show the evolutionary level reached by each species examined in respect of its glandular development. To measure such degrees of development, each glandular system was given a numerical weight between zero and twenty, specialized types receiving higher values. In the phylogenetic tree presented, branching follows Michener (1944), and the sums of the above-mentioned scores (varying from zero to 140) are listed for all examined species.