Comparative analysis of the gut microbiota of the sympatric stingless bee species Melipona beecheii and Melipona yucatanica.

The gut microbiota of insects plays a crucial role in host health and is thought to have co-evolved with each species. In stingless bees, a general understanding of these associations has begun to emerge; however, several important knowledge gaps remain. In this study, we employed amplicon sequencing to compare the gut microbiota of individual specimens from two closely related and sympatric Neotropical stingless bee species from the Maya region, Melipona beecheii and Melipona yucatanica. Our results revealed that (i) most amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) in both species were transient; (ii) the core microbiota of these species was almost entirely distinct, sharing only one ASV out of a total of 31; and (iii) despite this divergence, all core ASVs identified in both species belonged to only four bacterial orders. This pattern suggests that, while their microbiota have differentiated at finer taxonomic scales, it likely originated from a shared ancestral community. We contextualize these findings within the current understanding of stingless bee microbiotas and highlight future directions for exploring their evolution and diversity.