Microbial Evolution in Allodapine Bees: Perspectives From Trophallactic, Socially Plastic Pollinators.

ABSTRACT: This review seeks a deeper functional understanding of wild bee microbiomes by focusing on a tribe of bees where natural history and behavioral ecology are well known but investigations of microbiology are just beginning. Opportunities to improve our future knowledge of pathogens to insect pollinators are explored-which have broad ramifications for crop pollination services, considering the current overdependence on a few managed species that face a multitude of health threats. The bee tribe Allodapini (Apidae: Xylocopinae) has the potential to offer comparative insights on the evolution of bee microbiomes, owing to a unique combination of life history traits relevant to pollination service delivery across sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia, and Australia. Allodapines exhibit facultatively

SUBMITTER: Tierney SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12301265 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature