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Species composition and altitudinal distribution of bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in the East Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, India

View ORCID ProfileMartin Streinzer, Jharna Chakravorty, Johann Neumayer, Karsing Megu, Jaya Narah, Thomas Schmitt, Himender Bharti, View ORCID ProfileJohannes Spaethe, View ORCID ProfileAxel Brockmann
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/442475
Martin Streinzer
1Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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  • For correspondence: martin.streinzer@univie.ac.at
Jharna Chakravorty
2Department of Zoology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
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Johann Neumayer
3Obergrubstrasse 18, 5161 Elixhausen, Austria
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Karsing Megu
2Department of Zoology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
4National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India
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Jaya Narah
2Department of Zoology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
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Thomas Schmitt
5Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology (Zoology III), Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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Himender Bharti
6Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India
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Johannes Spaethe
7Department of Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology (Zoology II), Biocenter, University of Wurzburg, Wurzburg, Germany
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Axel Brockmann
4National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India
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Abstract

The East Himalaya is one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Yet, very little is known about the abundance and distribution of many plant and animal taxa in this region. Bumble bees are a group of cold-adapted and high altitude insects that fulfill an important ecological and economical function as pollinators of wild and agricultural flowering plants and crops. The Himalayan mountain range provides ample suitable habitats for bumble bees. Himalayan bumble bees have been studied systematically for a few decades now, with the main focus on the western region, while the eastern part of the mountain range received little attention and only a few species are genuinely reported. During a three-year survey, we collected more than 700 bumble bee specimens of 21 species in Arunachal Pradesh, the largest of the north-eastern states of India. We collected a range of species that were previously known from a very limited number of collected specimens, which highlights the unique character of the East Himalayan ecosystem. Our results are an important first step towards a future assessment of species distribution, threat and conservation. We observed clear altitudinal patterns of species diversity, which open important questions about the functional adaptations that allow bumble bees to thrive in this particularly moist region in the East Himalaya.

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Posted October 13, 2018.
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Species composition and altitudinal distribution of bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in the East Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Martin Streinzer, Jharna Chakravorty, Johann Neumayer, Karsing Megu, Jaya Narah, Thomas Schmitt, Himender Bharti, Johannes Spaethe, Axel Brockmann
bioRxiv 442475; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/442475
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Species composition and altitudinal distribution of bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in the East Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Martin Streinzer, Jharna Chakravorty, Johann Neumayer, Karsing Megu, Jaya Narah, Thomas Schmitt, Himender Bharti, Johannes Spaethe, Axel Brockmann
bioRxiv 442475; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/442475

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