Juvenile hormone promotes dominance behavior and ovarian development in social wasps (Polistes annularis)

Abstract

Repeated topical application of juvenile hormone to workers of the primitive social wasp, Polistes annularis resulted in a disruption of colony social structure as indicated by a sharp increase in the frequency of dominance interactions. Ovarian maturation was also observed, probably as both a direct and an indirect effect of hormone treatment.

Precocene-I inhibits juvenile hormone biosynthesis, ovarian activation, aggression and alters sterility signal production in bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) workers

“…While in many insect species JH functions in the adult as a gonadotropin, in some highly eusocial insects its role has shifted to regulate social behavior (Barth et al, 1975;Hartfelder and Engels, 1998;Bloch et al, 2000b;Hartfelder, 2000;Giray et al, 2005;Amsalem et al, 2014). In bumble bees, which are considered to be primitively eusocial (Michener, 1974), JH seemed to retain its role in reproduction but was also suggested to mediate aggression and Aggressive behavior was measured in individual bees kept in three-worker groups that were assigned to one of the following treatments: untreated control groups (n=12 groups), fed with 3 mg precocene-I diluted in sugar water (n=14 groups), fed with 3 mg precocene-I and treated with a topical application of 5 μl DMF (n=14 groups), or fed with 3 mg precocene-I and treated with a topical application of 100 μg JH-III diluted in 5 μl DMF (n=11 groups).…”

“…In pre-adult stages it regulates developmental processes and metamorphosis, while in adult females it induces vitellogenesis (the production of the major yolk protein) and reproduction (Nijhout and Wheeler, 1982;Robinson and Vargo, 1997;Hartfelder, 2000). In social insects, the hormone has acquired new roles such as regulating aggression and dominance in females of primitively eusocial insects such as bumble bees and wasps, regulating polymorphism and caste determination in isopteran and hymenopteran species, and regulating division of labor and behavioral maturation in the honey bee (Barth et al, 1975;Hartfelder and Engels, 1998;Bloch et al, 2000b;Hartfelder, 2000;Giray et al, 2005;Amsalem et al, 2014). Thus, the functions of JH were hypothesized to have changed during the transition from solitary to social lifestyles in insects.…”

Juvenile hormone in adult eusocial hymenoptera: Gonadotropin and behavioral pacemaker

“…Little work has been done on the endocrine correlates of queen dominance over workers in Polistes. In the one study published to date, Barth et al (1975) found that topical treatment of P. annularis workers with JH-III resulted in increased ovary development in workers and elevated levels of dominance behavior.…”

Divisão de trabalho em colônias da vespa social neotropical Polistes canadensis canadensis Linnaeus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…Em trabalhos realizados por Barth et al (1975) com P. annularis (Linnaeus, 1763), Röseler et al (1980Röseler et al ( , 1985 e Turillazzi et al (1982) com P. dominulus (Christ, 1791 relatam que altas taxas de hormônio juvenil estão relacionadas com o domínio e o maior desenvolvimento ovariano das fêmeas, e segundo Röseler (1991) as fêmeas com maior capacidade reprodutiva possuem ovários mais desenvolvidos e freqüentemente tornam-se rainhas em suas colônias.…”