Biparental care in Hymenoptera is a little studied behaviour. This kind of parental care was discovered and the ethological aspect described in the bee Ceratina nigrolabiata from the Czech Republic and is well understood on the ethological level. However, biparental care is not a common behaviour and the lack of genomic studies of this behaviour complicates the understanding of the origin of the biparental care and its underlying pathways on the genomic and physiological level. This master's thesis presents the genome analyses of a biparental bee Ceratina nigrolabiata. It consists of a brief summary of the known parental behaviour across insects, characteristics of the genus Ceratina, summary of the used genomic methods and presents a candidate genes for the transcriptomic study of the biparental behaviour of Ceratina nigrolabiata. Key words: biparental care, genomics, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Ceratina, small carpenter bees

Comparative studies on endangered species and their more common congeners can shed light on the mechanism of species rarity, and enable conservationists to formulate effective management strategies. I compared the breeding and pollination systems of the endangered Geodorum eulophioides and its two more common sympatric congeners in subtropical China. Geodorum eulophioides and G. recurvum were self-compatible, both depending on Ceratina cognata for fruit production, while G. densiflorum can autonomously self. Although the floral visitation frequency of G. eulophioides was the highest among the three, its natural fruit set was similar to that of G. recurvum, but both lower than that of G. densiflorum. These results partially explain the difference in species abundance. Coupled with severe habitat loss and degradation, the extremely low pollinator visitation and natural fruit set of G. eulophioides calls for rapid establishment of ex-situ collection, in conjunction with improving in-situ habitat. Natural hybridization tendencies were also studied among species.