Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
J Evol Biol. 2012 Mar;25(3):522-31. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02444.x. Epub 2012 Jan 13.
Body size and morphology are key fitness-determining traits that can vary genotypically. They are likely to be important in social insect queens, which mate in swarms and found colonies independently, but genetic influences on queen morphology have been little investigated. Here, we show that the body size and morphology of queens are influenced by their genotype in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, a species in which certain lineages (patrilines) bias their development towards reproductive queens rather than sterile workers. We found no relationship between the queen-worker skew of patrilines and the size or morphology of queens, but there was a significant relationship with fluctuating asymmetry, which was greater in more queen-biased patrilines. Our results suggest that queen-biased patrilines do not incur a fitness cost in terms of body size, but may face more subtle costs in developmental stability. Such costs may constrain the evolution of royal cheating in social insects.
体型和形态是决定适应度的关键特征，可以在基因型上发生变化。它们在社会性昆虫的蚁后中可能很重要，蚁后在群体中交配并独立建立殖民地，但对蚁后形态的遗传影响研究甚少。在这里，我们表明体型和形态的蚁后受其基因型的影响，在切叶蚁属 Acromyrmex echinatior 中，某些谱系（父系）偏向于将其发育为生殖蚁后，而不是不育工蚁。我们发现父系的蚁后-工蚁偏斜与蚁后的大小或形态之间没有关系，但与波动不对称有显著关系，在更偏向蚁后的父系中波动不对称更大。我们的结果表明，偏向蚁后的父系在体型方面不会带来适应度成本，但在发育稳定性方面可能面临更微妙的成本。这些成本可能会限制社会性昆虫中皇家欺骗的进化。
