Origin of swarm-founding in the genus Ropalidia

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25840143
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biodiversity/Systematics
• Research Institution: Ibaraki University (2014-2015); Rissho University (2013)
• Principal Investigator: Morooka Fuki 茨城大学, 理学部, 准教授 (70635755)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 進化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The wasps in the vespid subfamily Polistinae fall into two groups in terms of their modes of colony foundation. One is independent founding, in which a colony is founded by one to several inseminated females. The other is swarm founding, where a colony is founded by a swarm of workers associated with one to many queens. Genus Ropalidia is widely distributed in Old World tropics and subtropics. They have the two way of these colony founding. Swarm-founding species of Ropalidia are divided into two groups based on their distribution ranges: Oriental species distributed from India in the west to Borneo, the Philippines and western part of the Lesser Sunda Islands in the east; and Papuan and Australian species. No swarm-founding species are distributed in Sulawesi, Moluccas and eastern part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Phylogenetic analysis of Ropalidia wasps using molecular data shows dual origin of the swarm founding in Ropalidia in accordance with their distribution.

Free Research Field

昆虫分類学