PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Flávio O. Francisco AU - Leandro R. Santiago AU - Yuri M. Mizusawa AU - Benjamin P. Oldroyd AU - Maria C. Arias TI - Genetic structure of the stingless bee <em>Tetragonisca angustula</em> AID - 10.1101/026740 DP - 2015 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 026740 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/10/08/026740.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/10/08/026740.full AB - The stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula Latreille 1811 is distributed from Mexico to Argentina and is one of the most widespread bee species in the Neotropics. However, this wide distribution contrasts with the short distance traveled by females to build new nests. Here we evaluate the genetic structure of several populations of T. angustula using mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites. These markers can help us to detect differences in the migratory behavior of males and females. Our results show that the populations are highly differentiated suggesting that both females and males have low dispersal distance. Therefore, its continental distribution probably consists of several cryptic species.