Origin of the primitively social behavior in spider wasps: characteristics of the female social behavior and their evolutionary significance

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25440217
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan University
• Principal Investigator: Shimizu Akira 首都大学東京, 理工学研究科, 助教 (10315749)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YOSHIMURA JIN 静岡大学, 創造科学技術大学院, 教授 (10291957)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 原始社会性 / 社会性進化 / 血縁度 / クモバチ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to clarify the evolutionary origin of primitively social behavior in Pompilidae, female nesting and social behaviors of Machaerothrix tsushimensis were investigated. The results of the investigations are that two females each may make and provision their own cell(s) in a composite nest (communal) and that some of the females shift their own nests with time. Moreover, genetic differentiation between individuals at two nesting sites (about 100 m apart from each other) was analyzed. The results of the analyses are that 1) females are genetically much differentiated between the nesting sites; and 2) males are not so much differentiated between them. Although males may facilitate genetic interchange between the sites, genetic similarity of individuals at a site seems to be great. There is a possibility that the formation of a kin group associated with settled life or low migratory activity concerns the evolution and maintenance of primitive sociality in this species.

Free Research Field

生物学