Exceptionally high levels of multiple mating in an army ant
Exceptionally high levels of multiple mating in an army ant
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DOI：
10.1007/s00114-004-0546-4
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发表时间：
2004-08-01
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Edwards, KJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Denny, AJ;Franks, NR;Edwards, KJ
大多数群居昆虫都有单独交配的蜂王，尽管也有明显的例外。竞争的假说已被提出来解释高水平的多交配的进化，但这个问题还远没有解决。在这里，我们使用微卫星来调查交配频率在军队蚂蚁Echiton burchellii和显示，皇后交配异常大量的男性，黯然失色，但其他所有的社会昆虫物种的数据。此外，我们提出的证据表明，交配是连续的，持续整个一生的女王。这是第一次在社会性的水螅类动物中发现连续交配的现象。我们认为，殖民地内的高亲子关系是最有可能已经进化到增加遗传多样性和对抗高病原体和寄生虫负荷。
Most species of social insects have singly mated queens, although there are notable exceptions. Competing hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of high levels of multiple mating, but this issue is far from resolved. Here we use microsatellites to investigate mating frequency in the army ant Eciton burchellii and show that queens mate with an exceptionally large number of males, eclipsing all but one other social insect species for which data are available. In addition we present evidence that suggests that mating is serial, continuing throughout the lifetime of the queen. This is the first demonstration of serial mating among social hymenoptera. We propose that high paternity within colonies is most likely to have evolved to increase genetic diversity and to counter high pathogen and parasite loads.