Ant workers produce males in queenless parts of multi-nest colonies
Ant workers produce males in queenless parts of multi-nest colonies
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-020-58830-w
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发表时间：
2020-02-07
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Heinze, Juergen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Giehr, Julia;Senninger, Lisa;Heinze, Juergen
几种社会性昆虫的工蜂能够通过产下未受精的卵来获得直接的适应性，然后这些卵发育成雄性。然而，在女王权利条件下，工蚁的直接繁殖通常会受到女王诱导的调节机制的阻碍。在自然界中，一些蚁群栖息在多个巢穴中（一夫多妻制）。这可能会让工蜂逃脱蜂王的控制并进行繁殖。然而，在季节性多性物种中，工蚁产下的幼崽在群体重聚后能否存活仍不清楚。在一些物种中，工蚁产下的卵和雄性幼虫会在蚁后群体中被选择性地消灭。在这里，我们测试工蚁在群体团聚期间是否会区分蚁后和工蚁产生的幼虫。我们检查了我们的研究物种 Temnothorax crassispinus 的无王亚群中工蚁的繁殖成功率。我们的结果表明，目前的育雏不会抑制工蚁的繁殖，但对工蚁的寿命有积极的影响。工蚁产生的幼虫在群体重聚期间很容易融入皇后右方亚群体，并且这些幼虫成功发育成成年雄性。
Workers of several social insects are capable of gaining direct fitness by laying unfertilized eggs, which then develop into males. However, under queenright conditions, direct reproduction of workers is usually prevented by queen-induced regulatory mechanisms. In nature, some ant colonies inhabit multiple nests sites (polydomy). This might allow workers to escape queen control and to reproduce. However, whether worker-produced brood survives after colony reunion in seasonally polydomous species remains unclear. In several species, worker-produced eggs and male-destined larvae are selectively destroyed in queenright colonies. Here, we test whether workers discriminate between queen- and worker-produced larvae during colony reunion. We examined the reproductive success of workers in queenless subcolonies of our study species Temnothorax crassispinus. Our results show that present brood did not inhibit worker reproduction but had a positive effect on worker lifespan. Larvae produced by workers were readily integrated into queenright subcolonies during colony reunion and these larvae successfully developed into adult males.