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.