The reliability of morphological traits in the differentiation of Bombus terrestris and B. lucorum (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Abstract

The bumblebees of the subgenus Bombus sensu strictu are a notoriously difficult taxonomic group because identification keys are based on the morphology of the sexuals, yet the workers are easily confused based on morphological characters alone. Based on a large field sample of workers putatively belonging to either B. terrestris or B. lucorum, we here test the applicability and accuracy of a frequently used taxonomic identification key for continental European bumblebees and mtDNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) that are diagnostic for queens to distinguish between B. terrestris and B. lucorum, two highly abundant but easily confused species in Central Europe. Bumblebee workers were grouped into B. terrestris and B. lucorum either based on the taxonomic key or their mtDNA RFLP. We also genotyped all workers with six polymorphic microsatellite loci to show which grouping better matched a coherent Hardy-Weinberg population. Firstly we could show that the mtDNA RFLPs diagnostic in queens also allowed an unambiguous discrimination of the two species. Moreover, the population genetic data confirmed that the mtDNA RFLP method is superior to the taxonomic tools available. The morphological key provided 45% misclassifications for B. lucorum and 5% for B. terrestris. Hence, for studies on B. terrestris we recommend to double check species identity with mtDNA RFLP analysis, especially when conducted in Central Europe. © INRA/DIB-AGIB/EDP Sciences, 2009.