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Bees of India - need for Barcoding. Dr. V.V. Belavadi University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore, INDIA. The Indian Sub-continent. A large section of the Asian continent consisting of countries lying substantially on the Indian tectonic plate
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Bees of India- need for Barcoding Dr. V.V. Belavadi University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore, INDIA
The Indian Sub-continent • A large section of the Asian continent consisting of countries lying substantially on the Indian tectonic plate • India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka & Maldives • The weather in this region remains humid during summer and dry during winter. Instead of four seasons, we basically have two main seasons, the wet and dry, due to monsoon climate. • India has three of the world's 34 biodiversity Hotspots: the Western Ghats, The Eastern Himalayas and the Hill ranges bordering India and Myanmar
Trans Himalayan Upper Himalayas Himalayan Deserts Kutch; Thar; Ladakh Semi Arid Central India Gujarat Western Ghats Deccan Peninsula Gangetic plains North East India Islands Andamans; Nicobars; Lakshadweep Coasts West Coast; East Coast Biogeographic Zones & Biotic Regions in India
Indian biodiversity • Survey & Description of Indian biodiverstiy began around 200 years ago. • Still we have not been able to completely describe even a single group of taxa (barring birds, butterflies & tiger beetles) • lack of trained & committed taxonomists? • New species & higher taxa of even higher animals are being discovered
Three new species of frogs • Philautus nerstogana, P. anili & P. dubois (Biju, 2001;Biju & Bossuyt, 2005) • A new family of frogs • Nasikabatrachidae from Western Ghats (Biju & Bossuyt, 2003; Dutta et al., 2004) • A new species of primate • Macaca munzula from Arunachal Pradesh (Sinha et al., 2005)
Animal Diversity World India
Endemic species of insects • India has ~ 6.84 % of the World insect fauna • On an average 48.8% of the species are endemic • Could be true of bees as well
Bees of India • 269 species in 26 genera (Bingham, 1897) • 748 species in 61 genera (Michener, 2000) • 750 species in 60 genera (Gupta, 2003) • Represent six families of bees
Number of bee species *Michener (2000)
Number of Genera* *Michener (2000)
Apidae Amegillaconfusa Amegillazonata Amegillabicincta Braunsapis sp. Braunsapis sp. Braunsapispicitarsus Braunsapis sp.
Apidae Ceratinasmaragdula Ceratinaunimaculata Thyreushistrio Thyreusmassuri Thyreus sp.
Apidae Xylocopaaestuans Xylocopalatipes Xylocoparufescens Xylocopa sp. Xylocopa sp. Xylocopaamethystina
Megachilidae Megachilebicolor Anthidium sp. Megachilehera Megachilelanata Megachilecarbonaria Megachiledisjuncta Coelioxysconfusus
Halictidae Nomiairidiscens Nomiacurvipes Nomiairidescens
How does Indian bee fauna compare with other groups? • Tiger beetles (Cicindelidae) • 2600 species Worldwide; 220 species in India = 8.46% • Ants (Formicidae) • 11934 species Worldwide; 631 species in India = 5.28% • Butterflies • 17500 species Worldwide; 1501 species in India = 8.57% • Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) • 22000 species Worldwide; 1450 species in India = 6.59% • Dung Beetles (Coprinae: Scarabaeidae) • 7000 species Worldwide; 360 species in India = 5.14%
Flowering plants • 250000 species Worldwide; 17500 species in India = 7.0% • Bees • 16425 species Worldwide; 748 species in India = 4.55% There may be several more species
For a number of taxa, species discoveries are yet to attain an asymptote (Aravind et al., 2006). • Suggest that many more species are yet to be discovered in several groups.
Why barcode animal and plant species? We have spent ~250 years to describe 1.7 million species; If there are 10 million species, we definitely need a quicker and reliable technique
Why Barcoding? • DNA barcoding would complement the existing taxonomic tools • Quicker and more reliable identification • Types of many species are housed in international museums – inaccessible • Few Bee taxonomists in India; there are some problems – can be sorted out
Apidae (267) Andrenidae (58) Colletidae (36) Halictidae (254) Megachilidae (130) Melittidae (03) Barcoding Indian bees
Facilities at UAS, Bangalore • Well established lab for molecular work • An established group is working on biodiversity of the country • Work on barcoding butterflies (Aravind et al., 2007; Umashaankar et al, in press)
Future thrusts • To Intensify collections of bees • To establish a bee barcoding lab • Capacity Building • To get staff and students trained in bee systematics • To seek funding from National (DBT) and International (?) agencies for bee barcoding project