Soldier production in a stingless bee depends on rearing location and nurse behaviour
Soldier production in a stingless bee depends on rearing location and nurse behaviour
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无刺蜜蜂的士兵产量取决于饲养地点和护士行为
DOI：
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发表时间：
2015
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
C. Grüter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
F. Segers;C. Menezes;A. Vollet;D. Lambert;C. Grüter
自达尔文以来，某些蚂蚁和白蚁物种的工蚁之间惊人的形态变异一直让进化生物学家着迷。在某些物种中，环境触发因素会诱导幼虫发育成不同的表型，例如次要或主要工人（士兵）。最近，在蜜蜂中发现了第一个士兵亚种，即无刺蜂 Tetragonisca angustula。蚂蚁通过逐步喂养幼虫直至蛹期来养育后代，而蚂蚁则相反，安古斯图拉蜂会大量提供单个育雏细胞，然后蜜蜂在看似均匀的育雏蜂巢上的密封细胞中从卵发育成年轻工蜂。这就提出了一个问题：这种蜜蜂如何在幼虫不与护理人员直接接触的情况下创造出形态多样的劳动力。我们调查了安古斯图拉在其紧凑的巢穴上饲养较大的士兵亚种的地方。此外，我们还研究了护理人员食物分配的差异是否会导致工人之间的体型差异。我们发现菌落产生c。 1-6% 的士兵大小的工人，主要从梳子的一个小中心区域出现。在这个区域，蜂房更宽，更多数量的哺育蜂在产卵前将幼虫食物卸到这里。产卵前的细胞出勤率在整个蜂巢中是相似的，因此并不能解释在中心发现的更大的食物量。我们的结果表明，工蚁通过幼虫的食物排出和细胞构建行为来决定士兵的生产。幼虫之间的营养差异可能会诱导幼虫进入一种或另一种种姓发育途径。
The spectacular morphological variation among workers of certain ant and termite species has fascinated evolutionary biologists since Darwin. In some species, environmental triggers induce larvae to develop into different phenotypes, e.g. minor or major workers (soldiers). Recently, the first soldier subcaste was discovered in a bee, the stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula. In contrast to ants, which raise their offspring by progressively feeding larvae until the pupal stage, T. angustula nurses mass provision individual brood cells after which the bees develop from egg to young workers in sealed cells on a seemingly uniform brood comb. This prompts the question of how this bee creates a morphologically variable workforce without larvae having direct contact with nursing workers. We investigated where T. angustula raises a larger soldier subcaste on its compact brood comb. Additionally, we examined whether size differences among workers could be generated by differential distribution of food by nursing workers. We found that colonies produce c. 1–6 % of soldier-sized workers, which mainly emerge from a small central area of the comb. In this area, cells are wider and a larger number of nursing bees unload larval food here before oviposition. Cell attendance levels prior to oviposition were similar across the comb and, thus, did not explain the larger food volumes found in the centre. Our results suggest that workers determine soldier production via larval food discharges and cell-building behaviour. Nutritional differences among larvae might then induce larvae into one or the other caste developmental pathway.