Karyotypes and Chromosomal Mapping of Some Repetitive DNAs in Two Stingless Bee Species (Apidae: Meliponini), with the Description of a B Chromosome in Plebeia Genus.

Introduction: Cytogenetic studies on stingless bees have significantly contributed to our understanding of karyotypic evolution and the composition of euchromatin and heterochromatin regions, including repetitive sequences.

Methods: In this study, we performed classical cytogenetics, chromosomal banding, and mapping of some repetitive sequences in two stingless bee species, Frieseomelitta trichocerata and Plebeia poecilochroa.

Results: The species exhibit the typical diploid chromosome number of each genera, 2n = 30 for Frieseomelitta and 2n = 34 for Plebeia.