Nonrelatives inherit colony resources in a primitive termite
Nonrelatives inherit colony resources in a primitive termite
复制标题
DOI：
10.1073/pnas.0907961106
复制
发表时间：
2009-10-13
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Thorne, Barbara L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Johns, Philip M.;Howard, Kenneth J.;Thorne, Barbara L.
优生优育的进化，特别是选择如何有利于高度社会化的群体中大多数个体的不育或不育，是一个尚未解决的悖论。优势性在不同的分类群中独立进化，包括昆虫(所有蚂蚁和白蚁；一些蜜蜂、黄蜂、蓟马和甲虫)、捕虾和裸鼠。与单倍体膜翅目(蚂蚁、蜜蜂和黄蜂)相比，白蚁受到的关注相对较少；然而，它们是唯一具有高度复杂的群体和非同寻常的种姓多样性的二倍体群体。在这项研究中，我们上演了不相关的原始湿木白蚁群落之间的相遇，模仿树皮下发生的自然相遇。在相遇期间，国王和/或王后被杀，幸存的成员合并为一个殖民地。在相遇之后，两个不相关的殖民地的成员作为一个社会单位进行合作。我们确定了国王和/或王后去世后出现的替代生殖器的起源群体。在这里，我们记录了从一个或两个原始殖民地的工蚁进化而来的替代生殖，继承了殖民地的合并资源，有时还进行了杂交。由于这一物种与祖先白蚁有许多共同的特征，这些发现表明，生态因素如何通过加速和增强辅助后代的直接适应机会，使有利于亲属选择的亲缘关系变得不那么关键，来促进优势性的进化。
The evolution of eusociality, especially how selection would favor sterility or subfertility of most individuals within a highly social colony, is an unresolved paradox. Eusociality evolved independently in diverse taxa, including insects (all ants and termites; some bees, wasps, thrips, and beetles), snapping shrimp, and naked mole rats. Termites have received comparatively less focus than the haplodiploid Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps); however, they are the only diploid group with highly complex colonies and an extraordinary diversity of castes. In this study we staged encounters between unrelated colonies of primitive dampwood termites, Zootermopsis nevadensis, mimicking natural meetings that occur under bark. During encounters, kings and/or queens were killed and surviving members merged into one colony. After encounters, members of both unrelated colonies cooperated as a single social unit. We determined the colony of origin of replacement reproductives that emerged after death of kings and/or queens. Here, we document that replacement reproductives developed from workers in either or both original colonies, inherited the merged resources of the colony, and sometimes interbred. Because this species shares many characteristics with ancestral termites, these findings demonstrate how ecological factors could have promoted the evolution of eusociality by accelerating and enhancing direct fitness opportunities of helper offspring, rendering relatedness favoring kin selection less critical.