Relatedness and Altruism in Neotropical Wasps

群居昆虫提供了自然界利他行为最显著的例子，其中一些个体牺牲自己的生存和繁殖来为其他个体谋利益。因此，利他主义的进化理论强调群居昆虫。亲缘选择理论预测，群居昆虫群落应该是由近亲组成的群体，这通常是正确的。然而，当一个群体有许多产卵的蚁后时，平均亲缘性预计会很低。工人利他主义的维持就变得更加成问题，除非工人被一种特殊的形态锁定在他们的角色中。从这个角度来看，最能挑战当前对工蜂行为维持的理解的群居昆虫是新热带地区的建群黄蜂，因为它们结合了多个蜂王的习惯，而工蜂和蜂王之间几乎没有形态差异。对这个群体的研究将回答两个至关重要的问题。首先，这些黄蜂的群体配偶之间的亲缘关系有多低？其次，除了皇后数之外，还有哪些因素会影响亲缘性，尤其是在亲缘性高于预期的情况下？如果亲缘关系非常低，那么这些研究将表明，当前的社会进化理论可能需要修订。如果亲缘关系不低，那么由多个女王存在所带来的问题将得到解决。对亲缘性为何不低的进一步调查将揭示有助于维持这一群体利他行为的力量。

Social insects provide nature's most conspicuous example of altruistic behavior, in which some individuals sacrifice their survival and reproduction for the benefit of others. Theories of the evolution of altruism have therefore emphasized social insects. The theory of kin selection predicts that social insect colonies should be groups of close relatives, and this is usually true. However, when there are many egg-laying queens per colony, average relatedness is expected to be quite low. The maintenance of worker altruism then becomes more problematic, unless workers are locked into their role by a specialized morphology. From this perspective, the social insects that most challenge current understanding of the maintenance of worker behavior are the swarm-founding wasps of the neo-tropics, because they combine the multiple-queen habit with little or no morphological differentiation between workers and queens. Study of this group will answer two vital questions. First, how low is relatedness among colony-mates in these wasps? Second, what factors other than queen number influence relatedness, especially in cases where relatedness is higher than expected? If relatedness is very low, then these studies will show that current theories of the evolution of sociality may need revision. If relatedness is not low, then the problem posed by the presence of multiple queens will be solved. Further investigations into why relatedness is not low will uncover the forces that help to maintain altruistic behavior in this group.