Loss of wings induces the expression of the worker-like phenotype in queens of a ponerine ant

Many highly-eusocial insect species are characterized by morphological differences between females. This is especially pronounced in ants where queens usually possess a fully developed thorax with wings and are specialized for reproduction while workers have a reduced thorax without wings and show various levels of reproductive degeneration that is associated with their helper role in the colony. Despite their morphological differentiation, queens and workers still show some plasticity leading to overlapping behavioral and physiological phenotypes. We investigated the level of queen plasticity and the factor that induces a worker-like phenotype in the ant species Harpegnathos saltator that has limited queen-worker dimorphism and workers that can assume the reproductive role of a queen in the colony. By comparing alate and dealate young queens, so-called gynes, we found that the loss of wings initiated the expression of behavioral and physiological characteristics of ant workers. In contrast to alate gynes, dealate gynes displayed higher frequencies of worker-like behaviors. In addition, dealate gynes showed a worker-like range of reproductive states unlike alate gynes. Like workers, dealate gynes lost the chemical signaling that is characteristic of alate gynes. Since gynes can activate this worker-like phenotype after wing loss, the essential difference between the ant queens and workers in this species with limited queen-worker dimorphism is a dispersal polyphenism. If the phenotypic plasticity observed in H. saltator is representative of the early stages of ant eusociality, an emerging dispersal dimorphism rather than a distinct reproductive dimorphism might represent one of the first steps in ant evolution.

Strength surpasses relatedness–queen larva selection in honeybees

Nepotism was initially theoretically predicted and sometimes found to trigger the selection of specific larvae to be reared as queens in the honeybee Apis mellifera. Although the importance of selecting the next queen for a colony indicates that it should not occur at random, nepotism is increasingly considered unlikely in eusocial insect societies. Different prenatal maternal supplies of embryos have been found to impact fitness in many other species and therefore could be a possible trigger underlying the likelihood of being raised as a queen. We offered related or unrelated larvae from six colonies originating from eggs of different weights for emergency queen rearing in queenless units with worker bees from these six colonies. We showed that nurses did not significantly prefer related larvae during queen rearing, which confirms the theory that different relatedness-driven kin preferences within a colony cannot be converted into a colony-level decision. However, we found that larvae originating from heavier eggs were significantly preferred for queen breeding. Studies on other species have shown that superior maternal supply is important for later reproductive success. However, we did observe tendencies in the expected direction (e.g., queens that hatched from heavier eggs had both more ovarioles and a shorter preoviposition period). Nevertheless, our data do not allow for a significant conclusion that the selection of larvae from heavy eggs truly offers fitness advantages.

Cooperation with non-kin: Context-dependent acceptance of alien queens by polygynous ant workers

Relatedness underlies the evolution of reproductive altruism, yet eusocial insect colonies occasionally accept unrelated reproductive queens. To better understand this seemingly paradox, we investigated whether acceptance of unrelated queens by workers is an incidental phenomenon resulting from failure to recognize non-nestmate queens, or whether it is an adaptive behavior favored in specific contexts where cooperation is preferable to rejection. Our study system is the socially polymorphic Alpine silver ant, Formica selysi. Within populations some colonies have a single queen (monogynous), and others have multiple, sometimes unrelated, breeding queens (polygynous). Social organization is determined by a supergene with two haplotypes. In a first experiment we investigated whether workers from polygynous colonies were inherently more prone to accepting unrelated queens than workers from the alternate, monogynous social form. We found that workers rejected all alien queens, independently of their social origin and of the number of queens heading their colony. We then investigated whether queen acceptance was favored in specific conditions. We found that workers from polygynous colonies accepted alien queens when these queens were accompanied by workers. These results show that workers flexibly adjust their acceptance of alien queens according to the situation. We discuss how conditional acceptance of unrelated queens may be adaptive by providing benefits through increased colony size and/or genetic diversity, and by avoiding the rejection costs resulting from fighting.

KARAKTERISTIK HABITUS DAN LINGKUNGAN POHON SARANG SEMUT RANGRANG (Oecophylla smaragdina) DI BANDAR LAMPUNG

The weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) is a eusocial insect, whose colonic life is highly dependent on the existence of trees. The existence of the weaver ant in natural habitat is now reduced due to the destruction of habitats caused by humans. To preserve the existence of weaver ant in nature needs to be studied bioecology as the purpose of this research is to know the characteristics of habitus and environment of weaver ants nest in Bandar Lampung. The research was conducted in June-October 2017 at the location of yard and plantation, using 50% sample from the sample population, from 20 districts in Bandar Lampung, 10 sub-districts were used as randomly selected research sites. The results showed as many as 15 types of plants used weaver ant for nesting. The most widely planted species of weaver ant is Mangifera sp. with characteristics of slippery surface habitus, sympodial branching, tree height of 3.9 to 11.5 m and an average canopy of> 65%, more nests found in yards (76%) far from urban areas, the percentage of the dominant nest toward the east , which is 41.8% of the total number of 86 nests.

Modeling long lifespans in eusocial insect populations

Along with division of labour, and life-history complexities, a characteristic of eusocial insect societies is the greatly extended lifespan for queens. The colony structure reduces the extrinsic mortality of the queen, and according to classical evolutionary theories of ageing, this greatly increases the lifespan. We explore the relationship between the evolution of longevity and the evolution of eusociality by introducing age-structure into a previously proposed evolutionary model and also define an associated agent-based model. A set of three population structures are defined: (i) solitary with all reproductive individuals, (ii) monogynous eusocial with a single queen, and (iii) polygynous eusocial, with multiple queens.In order to compare the relative fitnesses we compete all possible pairs of these strategies as well as all three together, analysing the effects of parameters such as the probability of progeny migration, group benefits, and extrinsic mortality on the evolution of long lifespans. Simulations suggest that long lifespans appear to evolve only in eusocial populations, and further, that long lifespans enlarge the region of parameter space where eusociality evolves. When all three population strategies compete, the agent-based simulations indicate that solitary strategies are largely confined to shorter lifespans. For long lifespan strategies the solitary behaviour results only for extreme (very low or very high) migration probability. For median and small values of migration probability, the polygynous eusocial and monogynous eusocial strategies give advantage to the population respectively. For a given migration probability, with an increase in lifespan, the dominant strategy changes from solitary to polygynous to monogynous eusociality. The evolution of a long lifespan is thus closely linked to the evolution of eusociality, and our results are in accord with the observation that the breeding female in monogynous eusocial species has a longer lifespan than those in solitary or polygynous eusocial species.