The Extinct Fauna of Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in Dominican Amber: Two New Species and Redescription of the Male of Proplebeia dominicana (Wille and Chandler)

Abstract

Seventeen specimens of Meliponini in Dominican Republic amber were studied, including eight workers of Proplebeia dominicana and four males, presumably of this same species. Detailed descriptions of two new species, placed tentatively in Proplebeia, are included. Characters of the male (mainly shape of sterna 5 and 6) corroborate the hypothesis that Proplebeia constitutes a distinct branch within the lineage of Neotropical Plebeia (s.s.). We discuss possible phylogenetic affinities among Plebeia, Proplebeia, and Nogueirapis silacea, the latter in amber from Chiapas, México.