Data from: Conservation genetics of Neotropical pollinators revisited: microsatellite analysis suggests that diploid males are rare in orchid bees

Allozyme analyses have suggested that Neotropical orchid bee (Euglossini) pollinators are vulnerable because of putative high frequencies of diploid males, a result of loss of sex allele diversity in small hymenopteran populations with single locus complementary sex determination. Our analysis of 1010 males from 27 species of euglossine bees sampled across the Neotropics at 2-11 polymorphic microsatellite loci revealed only 5 diploid males at an overall frequency of 0.005 (95% CIs 0.002-0.010); errors through genetic non-detection of diploid males were likely small. In contrast to allozyme-based studies, we detected very weak or insignificant population genetic structure, even for a pair of populations >500 km apart, possibly accounting for low diploid male frequencies. Technical flaws in previous allozyme-based analyses have probably led to considerable overestimation of diploid male production in orchid bees. Other factors may have a more immediate impact on population persistence than the genetic load imposed by diploid males on these important Neotropical pollinators.

同工酶分析（Allozyme analyses）表明，新热带区兰花蜂（Euglossini）这类传粉昆虫存在生存脆弱性，其潜在诱因被认为是二倍体雄蜂（diploid males）的高发生率——这一现象源于单一位点互补性别决定（single locus complementary sex determination）机制下，小型膜翅目昆虫种群的性等位基因多样性（sex allele diversity）丧失。本研究对横跨新热带区采集的27种兰花蜂的1010头雄蜂展开分析，检测位点覆盖2至11个多态性微卫星位点（polymorphic microsatellite loci），仅发现5头二倍体雄蜂，整体发生率为0.005（95%置信区间（95% CIs）：0.002~0.010）；二倍体雄蜂遗传检测漏检带来的误差极小。与此前基于同工酶分析的研究结果不同，本研究未发现具有统计学意义的种群遗传结构（population genetic structure），即便对于相距超过500公里的两个种群亦是如此，这或许可以解释兰花蜂中二倍体雄蜂发生率偏低的成因。过往基于同工酶分析的研究存在技术缺陷，这可能极大高估了兰花蜂的二倍体雄蜂产生率。相较于二倍体雄蜂给这类重要的新热带区传粉昆虫带来的遗传负荷（genetic load），其他因素或许对种群存续的影响更为直接。