The pharyngeal plate is a morphological complex with extensive anatomical variation among bees and, therefore, potential as a source of phylogenetic information. The pharyngeal plate of bees is divided into four morphologically distinct regions: sitophore, hypopharyngeal lobe, pharyngeal rods, and median oral plate. In this work we illustrate and document in detail for the first time the pharyngeal plate of 43 bee species, providing descriptions of the morphological variation and contrasting these findings with representatives of apoid wasps (Crabronidae and Sphecidae). We evaluate and discuss the potential of this structure as a rich source of morphological information in the context of bee phylogeny and any research potentially impacted by comparative morphological data. The shape of the hypopharyngeal lobe is highly variable among suprageneric taxa of bees and can be readily employed to characterise taxa at various levels. We argue that the global patterns in the variation of the pharyngeal plate can provide information for phylogenetic inference within bees and constructed and coded 10 characters that encompass the most noticeable morphological differences discussed herein.

中文翻译：

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对Apioidea（膜翅目：Aculeata）咽板的比较研究，对理解蜜蜂的系统发育关系具有重要意义。

咽板是一种形态学复合体，在蜜蜂之间具有广泛的解剖学差异，因此有可能成为系统发育信息的来源。蜜蜂的咽板被分为四个形态上不同的区域：西托菲尔，下咽叶，咽杆和正中口腔板。在这项工作中，我们首次详细说明并记录了43种蜜蜂的咽板，提供了形态变异的描述，并将这些发现与阿片黄蜂（蟹科和and科）的代表进行了对比。我们评估和讨论这种结构作为蜜蜂系统发生学以及可能受到比较形态学数据影响的任何研究背景下丰富的形态学信息来源的潜力。下蜂叶的形状在蜜蜂的舌上类群中变化很大，可以很容易地用来表征各种级别的类群。我们认为，咽板变异的整体模式可以为蜜蜂内的系统发育推断提供信息，并构建和编码了10个字符，这些字符涵盖了本文讨论的最明显的形态学差异。