Sinopsis de las abejas sin aguijón del grupo favosa del género Melipona (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) en Colombia

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are of great biological, economic, and culturally important group. In Colombia, species such as those of the favosa group of the genus Melipona with three species reported for the country especially stand out. However, these species have been traditionally differentiated based on the coloration of the integument, which is a highly variable character in individuals of the same species. On the other hand, the characters of the associated sterna, which are of taxonomic importance in the group, have never been reviewed. In this research, we studied the species of the favosa species group known for Colombia. We reviewed 377 individuals of the favosa group from different biogeographic regions where individuals have been reported, and we also reviewed the characters associated to coloration of the integument and the male terminalia of the specimens examined. Our results indicated that the characters of coloration traditionally used to separate the species were not consistent; we observed high variation even in individuals from the same nest. We also found that the sterna of males from different biogeographic regions did not differ from each other; however, they did differ from the sterna of M. orbignyi from Argentina and thus, bear characters of taxonomic importance for the group. These results indicate that the favosa group in Colombia is represented by a single species, Melipona favosa.