Apis nulensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger, 1996 and its genetic relationship with sympatric species inferred from DNA sequences

Abstract

Apis nuluensis Tingek, Koeniger and Koeniger is a new species recently described by Tingek et al (1996) on the basis of morphological and behavioral characters. To understand the genetic relationship between the new species and sympatric species of the A cerana group from Borneo, two different DNA regions of nuclear (EF-1α intron) and mitochondrial (ND2 gene) origin were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses of the sequences indicate that A nuluensis and A cerana are sister taxi. The apparent paraphyly of A cerana with respect to A nuluensis, may result from relatively recent speciation of A nuluensis from the isolated A cerana population of Borneo. However, further studies of A cerana across its range are needed to clarify the status of Bornean populations.