Cryptic bumblebee species: consequences for conservation and the trade in greenhouse pollinators

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 3; p. e32992
• Main Authors: Williams, Paul H, An, Jiandong, Brown, Mark J F, Carolan, James C, Goulson, Dave, Huang, Jiaxing, Ito, Masao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 09-03-2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agriculture; Analysis; Animals; Apidae; Apoidea; Bar codes; Base Sequence; Bayes Theorem; Bayesian analysis; Bees; Bees - classification; Bees - genetics; Bees - physiology; Biodiversity; Biology; Bombus; Bombus hypocrita; Bombus patagiatus; Bombus terrestris; Bumblebees; China; Cladistic analysis; Conservation; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Cryptic species; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA barcoding; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic - methods; Evolution; Food; Food security; Genetic resources; Genetics, Population; Greenhouses; Hymenoptera; Insecta; Japan; Models, Genetic; Molecular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; Morphology; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Plant reproduction; Pollination; Pollinators; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Species; Species Specificity; Studies; Taxonomy; Wildlife conservation; Zoology; China; Japan; Beijing China; Ireland; Western Europe; China, People's Rep; INW, Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032992

Commercial greenhouse growers in both Japan and China are increasingly using reared orange-tailed bumblebees known previously as Bombus hypocrita Pérez as pollinators. Phylogenetic analysis of the DNA (COI) barcodes with Bayesian methods shows that this "species" is a long-standing confusion of two cryptic species. We find that the orange-tailed bumblebees in North China are actually part of the widespread Russian (otherwise white-tailed) B. patagiatus Nylander (as B. patagiatus ganjsuensis Skorikov, n. comb.), whereas the orange-tailed bees in Japan are true B. hypocrita. This situation has been further complicated because two other cryptic species from North China that were previously confused with the Russian B. patagiatus are now recognised as separate: B. lantschouensis Vogt n. stat. and B. minshanensis Bischoff n. stat.. As demand for pollination services by greenhouse growers inevitably increases, these bees are more likely to be transported between countries. In order to conserve genetic resources of pollinator species for their option value for future food security, we advocate preventing trade and movement of B. patagiatus from China into Japan and of B. hypocrita from Japan into China.