Evolution and maintenance of polygynous societies in polistine wasps

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24570021
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Niigata University
• Principal Investigator: KUDO Kazuyuki 新潟大学, 人文社会・教育科学系, 准教授 (70444180)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 多女王制 / 遺伝的多様性 / 分業制 / 寄生 / エピポナ族 / サンパウロポリビア / マイクロサテライトDNAマーカー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In polygynous wasps, several or many queens reproduce in a colony, thus decreasing the relatedness of workers to brood. Some ecological benefits of polygyny have been suggested, such as increased parasite resistance or increased task performance of workers. In this study, those two hypotheses were examined in the swarm-founding epiponine wasp Polybia paulista. Polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers showed strong genotypic differences between parasitized and non-parasitized workers. The markers also showed that statistically significant bias in genotypic frequencies among forager types. The microsatellite marker biases suggest that division of labor and increased parasite resistance among workers includes a genetic component in Polybia paulista. Colony-level selection on variation in division of labor and parasite resistance is a possible factor favoring the evolutionary maintenance of high genotypic variability (though low relatedness) in epiponine wasp colonies.

Free Research Field

生物学