Bryan Danforth

Professional Overview & Objectives

My goals are to establish a leading program in the phylogeny, evolution, systematics, and biogeography of bees. Bees comprise a monophyletic group of over 20,000 species worldwide. The genus Apis, to which the common, domesticated honey bee belongs, comprises just 8 of the 20,000 species of bees in the world. The vast majority of bees are solitary, ground-nesting, and do not produce honey. However, they are important pollinators of native and, in some cases, agricultural plants, and they are considered important ecological indicators. Among the most fascinating groups of bees are the primitive families Colletidae, Stenotritidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae, and Melittidae (collectively referred to as the short-tongued bees). The origin of the bees occurred sometime in the Cretaceous and diversification of the bees was coincident with the origin and diversification of the angiosperms (early to mid-Cretaceous). Like angiosperms, bees probably originated in the southern Hemisphere (Gondwanaland) and their early evolution occurred during the breakup of Gondwanaland in the Mesozoic. Research in my lab focuses on the phylogeny, historical biogeography and diversification of the bees during the early stages of their evolution. Previous studies have been unable to clearly resolve the relationships among the primitive bee families, subfamilies, tribes and genera. As a result important questions remain about the early diversification of bees: (1) what were the pollen sources and primitive host-plant associations of the bees, (2) to what extent do bee higher level relationships reflect Gondwanan breakup, and (3) what is the actual date of bee origins, (4) what was the morphology and natural history of a groundplan bee? Using a combination of morphological and molecular data we are reconstructing evolutionary relationships at the family, subfamily, tribal, and generic levels. Such studies are essential to developing a stable classification of the bees, inferring the historical biogeography of bees, understanding the history of bee/plant coevolution, and reconstructing patterns of bee social evolution.

Education

Academic Ranks

Associate Professor: 2001
Assistant Professor: 1995

Areas of Expertise

Systematics, Molecular Evolution, Phylogenetics, Bee Biology, Genomics

Courses Taught

Publications

Patiny, S., D. Michez, & B.N. Danforth (2007). Phylogenetic relationships and host-plant associations within the basal clade of Halictidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Cladistics online: 8-Nov-2007 doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2007.00182.x

B.N. Danforth (2007). Bees - a primer. Current Biology 17(5): R156-R161.

Magnacca, K.N. & B.N. Danforth (2007) Low nuclear DNA variation supports a recent origin of Hawaiian Hylaeus bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 43(3): 908-915.

Danforth, B.N., J. Fang, S. Sipes, S.G. Brady, & E.A.B. Almeida (2006). Phylogeny and molecular systematics of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Cornell University, Ithaca, NY [http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/BeePhylogeny/]

Danforth, B.N., J. Fang, & S.D. Sipes (2006). Analysis of family_level relationships in bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) using 28S and two previously unexplored nuclear genes: CAD and RNA polymerase II. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. (in press)

Brady, S.G., S.D. Sipes, A. Pearson, B.N. Danforth (2006). Recent and simultaneous origins of eusociality in halictid bees. Proc. Royal Soc. London, Series B (Biological Sciences), in press.

Danforth, B.N. & K.N. Magnacca (2005). Bees of New York State. NY State Biodiversity Clearinghouse, New York State Biodiversity Project and New York State Biodiversity Research Institute. [http://www.nybiodiversity.org/]

Danforth, B.N., C._P. Lin & J. Fang (2005). How do insect nuclear ribosomal genes compare to protein_coding genes in phylogenetic utility and DNA substitution patterns? Systematic Entomology 30:549_562.

Lin, C.-P., B.N. Danforth, & T.K. Wood (2004). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution of maternal care in membracine treehoppers. Systematic Biology (in press).

Danforth, B.N., S.G. Brady, S.D. Sipes & A. Pearson (2004). Single copy nuclear genes recover Cretaceous age divergences in bees. Syst. Biol. 53(2): 1-18

Brady, S.G. & B.N. Danforth (2004). Recent intron gain in elongation factor-1 (EF-1) of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Mol. Biol. Evol. 21(4):691_696.

Lin, C.P. & B.N. Danforth (2004). How do insect nuclear and mitochondrial gene substitution patterns differ? Insights from Bayesian analyses of combined data sets. Mol. Phylo. Evol. 30: 686-702.

Danforth, B.N., S. Ji, & L.J. Ballard (2003). Gene flow and population structure in an oligolectic desert bee, Macrotera (Macroteropsis) portalis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). J. Kansas Entomological Society 76(2): 221-235.

Danforth, B.N., L.Conway, & S. Ji (2003). Phylogeny of eusocial Lasioglossum reveals multiple losses of eusociality within a primitively eusocial clade of bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Syst. Biol. 52(1): 23-36.

Danforth, B.N. (2002). Evolution of sociality in a primitively eusocial lineage of bees. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 99(1): 286-290.

Soucy, S.L. & B.N. Danforth (2002). Phylogeography of the socially polymorphic sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Evolution 56 (2): 330_341.

Ascher, J.S., B.N. Danforth, S. Ji. 2001. Phylogenetic utility of the major opsin in bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): a reassessment. Mol. Phylo. Evol. 19: 76-93.

Danforth, B.N. & S. Ji. 2001. Australian Lasioglossum + Homalictus form a monophyletic group: resolving the "Australian enigma." Syst. Biol. 50(2): 268-283.

Tilmon, K.J., B.N. Danforth, M.P. Hoffmann, W.H. Day. 2000. Determining parasitoid species composition in a host population: a new molecular approach. Ann. Entomol. Soc. America 93(3): 640-647.

Danforth, B.N. 1999. Phylogeny of the bee genus Lasioglossum (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase. Syst. Entomol. 24(4): 377-393.

Danforth, B.N., H. Sauquet, L. Packer. 1999. Phylogeny of the bee genus Halictus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) based on parsimony and likelihood analyses of nuclear EF-1α sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 13(3):605-618.

Danforth, B.N. 1999. Emergence dynamics and bet hedging in a desert bee Perdita portalis. Proc. Royal Society of London 266:1985-1994.

Danforth, B.N. & C. A. Desjardins. 1999. Male dimorphism in Perdita portalis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) has arisen from preexisting allometric patterns. Insectes Sociaux 46:18-28.

Danforth, B.N. & W.T. Wcislo 1999. Two new and highly apomorphic species of the Lasioglossum subgenus Evylaeus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) from Central America. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 92:624-630.

Danforth, B.N, P. Mitchell & L. Packer. 1998. Mitochondrial DNA differentiation between two cryptic Halictus species. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 91:387-391.

Danforth, B.N. & S. Ji. 1998. Elongation factor-1α occurs as two copies in bees: Implications for phylogenetic analysis of EF-1α sequences in insects. Mol. Biol. Evol. 15(3):225-235.