Morphometric study in Schwarziana quadripunctata with emphasis on virgin queens (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponinae)

Physogastric queens, virgin queens and workers of Schwarziana quadripunctat a were analyzed to detect patterns of variation associated with size differ ences. Virgin queens are diverse in size. Multivariate analysis showed that smaller virgin queens (or miniature queens) are not similar to workers as previously stated. Since morphometric pattern found in Schwarziana is simil ar to that found in Apoica pallens, differences between physogastric queens and virgin queens can best be explained as reprogramming of growth paramet ers occurring in the preimaginal stage. Size-range detected between queens and workers, suggests that queen cells similar to worker cells can represen t an early step in the evolution of queen-worker dimorphism of which two pa tterns of queen size prevalent in the stingless bees, namely: smaller queen s produced in worker-like cells (tribe Meliponini); larger queens produced in royal cells (tribe Trigonini).