Mating frequency and genetic relatedness of workers in the hornet<i>Vespa analis</i>(Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Takahashi, Junichi; Akimoto, Shin‐ichi; Nakamura, Jun; Hasegawa, Eisuke

doi:10.1046/j.1343-8786.2003.00018.x

Cited by 6 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Effective mating frequency in V. mandarinia (1.03) is lower than the observed mating frequency (1.10) because of predominant usage of sperm (up to 85%) from one male of the two males. The mean estimate of the effective mating frequency is 1.11 for V. crabro (Foster et al, 1999;Takahashi et al, 2004), 1.0 for V. ducalis , and 1.1 for V. analis (Takahashi et al, 2003), which are not significantly different from that of V. mandarinia (1.03). Furthermore, the effective mating frequency remains very low at 1.03, because the paternity of workers is skewed between the two mating partners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Furthermore, the effective mating frequency remains very low at 1.03, because the paternity of workers is skewed between the two mating partners. The mean effective numbers of matings in V. crabro, V. ducalis and V. analis are 1.11, 1.00 and 1.02, respectively (Foster et al, 1999;Takahashi et al, 2002Takahashi et al, , 2003Takahashi et al, , 2004. Consequently, these four species have a similar frequency of multiple paternity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Microsatellite DNA analyses showed that queens of V. crabro, V. ducalis and V. analis generally mate with one male (Foster et al, 1999;Takahashi et al, 2002Takahashi et al, , 2003Takahashi et al, , 2004. Although these results suggest a potential conflict between queens and workers over male production in these species, workers in queen-right colonies of V.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…In Vespa, genetic markers have been developed (Thóren, 1998;Hasegawa and Takahashi, 2002) and the colony genetic structure has been reported for three species (Foster et al, 1999;Takahashi et al, , 2003Takahashi et al, , 2004. Microsatellite DNA analyses showed that queens of V. crabro, V. ducalis and V. analis generally mate with one male (Foster et al, 1999;Takahashi et al, 2002Takahashi et al, , 2003Takahashi et al, , 2004.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TAKAHASHI et al Ross (1986) crabro and V. ducalis have been shown to produce no males Takahashi et al, 2002Takahashi et al, , 2003. V. mandarinia is a common, giant hornet of the mainland and islands of East Asia (Archer, 1995).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Mating structure and male production in the giant hornet Vespa mandarinia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Takahashi

Akimoto

Martin

et al. 2004

Appl. Entomol. Zool.

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INTRODUCTIONColony kin structure is a central parameter for testing kin selection of social insects (Crozier and Page, 1985;Boomsma and Ratnieks, 1996;Crozier and Pamilo, 1996). The mating frequency of a queen and the number of queens are the main determinants of genetic colony structure, especially in eusocial Hymenoptera because genetic colony structure potentially affects the outcome of the conflict over sex ratio and male production between queens and workers. Several hypotheses have been proposed as to why queen mates multiply instead of apparent decrement of genetic interests for workers to rear broods (Strassmann, 2001).Kin selection theory predicts that in monogynous colonies, workers and queens will compete for male production because the relatedness (r) of a worker to her son (0.5) is greater than to nephews (0.375) or brothers (0.25). However, as the mating frequency of queens increases, the potential conflict over genetic interests between queens and workers diminishes because the relatedness of workers to nephews becomes smaller than to brothers, resulting in the evolution of worker policing (Woyciechowski and Lomnicki, 1987;Ratnieks 1988). An increase in queen mating frequency enhances the proportion of workers that are half sisters and reduces the average genetic relatedness between workers. Since the relatedness of a worker to the male offspring of a half sister (0.125) is lower than the relatedness to the male offspring of the foundress queen (0.25), worker reproduction should be inhibited by mutual policing (Ratnieks,Appl. Entomol. Zool. 39 (2): 343-349 (2004) 343Mating structure and male production in the giant hornet Vespa mandarinia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) AbstractQueen mating frequency, genetic relatedness between workers and worker reproduction were estimated in Vespa mandarinia by microsatellite DNA markers. Of 20 colonies examined, eighteen contained queens inseminated by a single male and two colonies contained queens inseminated by two males. The estimated effective number of matings was 1.03Ϯ0.023 (meanϮSE) with 85% of the offspring of the two multiply-mated queens being sired by one of the two males. The genetic relatedness between workers was 0.738Ϯ0.008, which was almost identical to the predicted value of 0.75 under monogyny and monandry. For this low paternity, kin selection theory predicts a potential conflict between queens and workers over male production. To learn whether males are derived from queens or workers, 400 males from 20 colonies were genotyped at four microsatellite loci. We found that queens produced all males. This finding was confirmed by the observation that 4,317 dissected workers had not developed ovaries. There was no relationship between queen mating frequency and the frequency of worker reproduction, and workers did not produce any male offspring. These results strongly suggest that male production dominated by queens in V. mandarinia is possibly due to worker policing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mating structure and male production in the giant hornet Vespa mandarinia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Takahashi

Akimoto

Martin

et al. 2004

Appl. Entomol. Zool.

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Mating System of the European Hornet Vespa crabro: Male Seeking Strategies and Evidence for the Involvement of a Sex Pheromone

2006

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We describe details of the mate finding strategy of drones of the European hornet, Vespa crabro, and present evidence for the involvement of sex pheromones. Tests were carried out with free flying drones in natural habitats. Males patrolled the nest site itself, as well as nearby nonresource-based sites, without showing territorial behavior. Patrolling was restricted to sunny spots in the vegetation, and thus, the locations changed throughout the day. Drones were attracted to both caged gynes and to dead workers treated with gyne extracts, indicating the presence of a female-produced sex attractant. Treated workers also elicited copulation attempts by the attracted drones. Extracts from gynes, workers, and drones contained exclusively cuticular lipids, and the profile from gynes was much more diverse than that of workers and drones. The most striking differences observed related to the alkenes, monomethyl- and dimethylalkanes. The results provide a lead for potential attracting and copulation-releasing semiochemicals in V. crabro.

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Queen condition, mating frequency, queen loss, and levels of worker reproduction in the hornets Vespa affinis and V. simillima

Martin

Takahashi

Katada

2009

Ecological Entomology

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1. Mature queens of the hornet Vespa affinis are unusual in that they lose all their body hair and wings. This has been used as evidence for matricide in hornets. Factors favouring matricide such as low paternity and long annual lifecycle are present in most hornets. 2. We determined paternity in V. affinis and compared queen condition, levels of queen loss, and worker reproduction in 163 V. affinis and 63 V. simillima colonies. These two species have very similar lifecycles and colony sizes, but different paternities (1.3 vs 2.4). Furthermore, in queen‐right V. affinis colonies small proportions (4%) of reproductive workers were present, whereas in queen‐right V. simillima colonies no reproductive workers were detected. 3. Despite these differences, queen damage in both species was influenced predominantly by her age and in V. affinis was not influenced by presence of reproductive workers. 4. The number of queen‐less V. simillima (9/63 = 14%) and V. affinis (28/163 = 17%) colonies were also not significantly different (P = 0.8). Therefore, queen damage and proportions of queen‐less colonies were not linked making it a poor indicator of matricide. 5. It is proposed that graded control of sexual and worker production in wasps and hornets prevents a situation where kin‐selected matricide is ever favoured.

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Mating frequency and genetic relatedness of workers in the hornetVespa analis(Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

Mating structure and male production in the giant hornet Vespa mandarinia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Mating structure and male production in the giant hornet Vespa mandarinia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Mating System of the European Hornet Vespa crabro: Male Seeking Strategies and Evidence for the Involvement of a Sex Pheromone

Queen condition, mating frequency, queen loss, and levels of worker reproduction in the hornets Vespa affinis and V. simillima

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