'The Evolutionary History of Bees in Time and Space'
Brazilian Entomologist to Present Seminar April 8
Bees originated some 120 million years ago and now comprise more than 20,000 described species in seven families. But where did they originate?
Cornell University alumnus Eduardo Almeida, an associate professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, will discuss “The Evolutionary History of Bees in Time and Space” at a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on Monday, April 8.
The seminar begins at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall, and also will be on Zoom. The link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
"Bees likely originated in the Early Cretaceous, shortly before the breakup of Western Gondwana (Africa and South America), and the early evolution of any major bee lineage is associated with either the South American or African land masses," Almeida says in his abstract.
"I will present the results of an investigation on bee biogeography, using extensive new genomic and fossil data to demonstrate that bees originated in Western Gondwana. Bees later colonized northern continents via a complex history of vicariance and dispersal. The notable early absences of these insects from large landmasses, particularly in Australia and India, have important implications for understanding the assembly of local floras and diverse modes of pollination. The partnership between flowering plants and bees began in the Cretaceous, and the history of how bees spread around the world from their hypothesized southern hemisphere origin parallels the histories of numerous plant clades."
Almeida, who joined the University of São Paulo in 2011, conducts research on bee evolution, and is particularly interested in phylogenomics, comparative morphology, biogeography, and associations with host plants.
Almeida and his colleagues published a research paper in August 2023 in the journal, Current Biology, on "The Evolutionary History of Bees in Time and Space."
The summary: "Bees are the most significant pollinators of flowering plants. This partnership began ca. 120 million years ago, but the uncertainty of how and when bees spread across the planet has greatly obscured investigations of this key mutualism. We present a novel analysis of bee biogeography using extensive new genomic and fossil data to demonstrate that bees originated in Western Gondwana (Africa and South America). Bees likely originated in the Early Cretaceous, shortly before the breakup of Western Gondwana, and the early evolution of any major bee lineage is associated with either the South American or African land masses. Subsequently, bees colonized northern continents via a complex history of vicariance and dispersal. The notable early absences from large landmasses, particularly in Australia and India, have important implications for understanding the assembly of local floras and diverse modes of pollination. How bees spread around the world from their hypothesized Southern Hemisphere origin parallels the histories of numerous flowering plant clades, providing an essential step to studying the evolution of angiosperm.
Coordinating the department's spring seminars is associate professor Brian Johnson. For any technical Zoom issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu.
The spring seminars began April 1, and will continue through June 3. They will be recorded, with links posted at https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/seminars.
The line-up:
April 1
Jamie Ellis, Gahan Endowed Professor of Entomology, University of Florida
“Understanding the Risk that Pesticides Pose to Honey Bees
April 8
Eduardo Almeida, associate professor, University of São Paulo, Brazil
“The Evolutionary History of Bees in Time and Space”
April 15
Zachary Lamas, research entomologist, honey bees, USDA-ARS
“How Doing a PhD Is Like Building a House”
April 22
Adam Wong, assistant professor, University of Florida
“Microbial Modulation of Host Behavior: Insights from Drosophila”
April 29
Melissa Guzman, associate professor, University of Southern California
“Using Occupancy Models to Infer Trends of Bee Biodiversity in North America”
May 6
Clement Chow, associate professor, University of Utah
“Flying to the Clinic: Drug Repurposing Screen for Rare Diseases”
May 13
Alejandro Del-Pozo, assistant professor, Virginia Tech
Title pending (researches applied insect ecology, turfgrass and ornamentals
May 20 (exit seminar)
Danielle Rutkowski, UC Davis doctoral candidate in Rick Karban and Rachelle Vannette labs
"Identity and Functions of Symbiotic Fungi Associated with Social Bees"
June 3
James R. Carey, UC Davis distinguished professor and senior scholar in the Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging at UC Berkeley
Title pending (research interests in insect biodemography, mortality dynamics, and insect invasion biology).