Relationships among the four tribes of corbiculate apine bees (Euglossini, Bombini, Meliponini, and Apini) are controversial. Phylogenetic hypotheses based on morphological characters do not agree with those based on molecular data. Furthermore, different morphological and molecular data sets are not always congruent with one another. Thus, a clear resolution has yet to be achieved concerning relationships among the corbiculate bees.
In order to help resolve this conflict, a cladistic analysis based on morphological characters derived from the sting apparatus was performed. In all of the morphological analyses to date, the posterior abdominal segments including the sting apparatus have been largely ignored. Preliminary results of cladistic analyses based on morphological characters from the sting are congruent with those based on morphological and combined morphological/molecular data, ie., Euglossini + (Bombini + (Meliponini + Apini)).
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