Giron David, Harvey Jeffrey A, Johnson Jena Anne, Strand Michael R
Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, UMR-CNRS 6035, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, 37200 Tours, France.
Biol Lett. 2007 Aug 22;3(4):431-4. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0199.
Polyembryonic wasps are the only parasitoids in which sociality has evolved. Theory implicates both competition and sex ratio manipulation in the evolution of a sterile soldier caste. However, investment in soldiers by males and females is predicted to differ depending upon how offspring are allocated to hosts and the mating system. Here, we compared male and female soldiers in the polyembryonic wasp Copidosoma floridanum. We found that male and female soldiers are morphologically identical. Unlike females, however, male soldiers were non-aggressive towards all competitors. We discuss these results in relation to theory and polyembryonic wasp biology.
多胚黄蜂是社会性得以进化的唯一寄生蜂类。理论表明,不育兵蜂等级的进化涉及竞争和性别比例操纵。然而,根据后代在宿主间的分配方式和交配系统,预计雄性和雌性对兵蜂的投入会有所不同。在此,我们比较了多胚黄蜂佛罗里达锥腹寄蝇的雄性和雌性兵蜂。我们发现,雄性和雌性兵蜂在形态上是相同的。然而,与雌性不同的是,雄性兵蜂对所有竞争者都没有攻击性。我们结合理论和多胚黄蜂生物学来讨论这些结果。