TOTAL EVIDENCE AND THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHLY SOCIAL BEES

Recent cladistic analyses of the relationships of the tribes of apine bees have produced conflicting results. The question of single or mult iple origins of advanced eusociality in the group is thus unresolved. However, the previous studies have each treated only a limited part of the character data available. A ''total evidence'' analysis is essaye d here, combining the published morphological characters with sequence data from rRNA and mtDNA. The resulting cladogram is Euglossini + (Bo mbini + (Meliponini + Apini)). This supports a single origin of advanc ed eusociality, from a stage of primitive eusociality.