RESEARCH ARTICLE Hitting an Unintended Target: Phylogeography of Bombus brasiliensis Lepeletier, 1836 and the First New Brazilian Bumblebee Species in a Century (Hymenoptera: Apidae) José Eustáquio Santos Júnior1, Fabrício R. Santos1, Fernando A. Silveira2* 1 Departamento de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2 Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil *
[email protected] OPEN ACCESS Abstract Citation: Santos Júnior JE, Santos FR, Silveira FA (2015) Hitting an Unintended Target: Phylogeography This work tested whether or not populations of Bombus brasiliensis isolated on mountain of Bombus brasiliensis Lepeletier, 1836 and the First tops of southeastern Brazil belonged to the same species as populations widespread in low- New Brazilian Bumblebee Species in a Century (Hymenoptera: Apidae). PLoS ONE 10(5): e0125847. land areas in the Atlantic coast and westward along the Paraná-river valley. Phylogeo- doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125847 graphic and population genetic analyses showed that those populations were all Academic Editor: Sean Brady, Smithsonian National conspecific. However, they revealed a previously unrecognized, apparently rare, and poten- Museum of Natural History, UNITED STATES tially endangered species in one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots of the World, Received: September 18, 2014 the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This species is described here as Bombus bahiensis sp. n., and included in a revised key for the identification of the bumblebee species known to occur Accepted: March 25, 2015 in Brazil. Phylogenetic analyses based on two mtDNA markers suggest this new species to Published: May 20, 2015 be sister to B.