Chavarría-Pizarro Laura, da Silva Marjorie, Ament Danilo C, Almeida Eduardo A B, Noll Fernando Barbosa
Departamento de Biologia, FFCLRP-USP, Avenida Bandeirantes 3900, CEP 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, IBILCE-UNESP, Rua Cristovão Colombo 2265, CEP 15055-240, São Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil.
Cladistics. 2023 Jun;39(3):215-228. doi: 10.1111/cla.12529. Epub 2023 Mar 4.
All Epiponini wasps are polygynic, with multiple queens alternating over the colony cycle. There are several potential queens in the early stages of this cycle, but as it progresses, the number of queens is reduced. Because most individuals remain reproductively totipotent, there is great potential for conflicts over reproduction. Workers could have an advantage in controlling queen production because they are much more numerous than queens. Nevertheless, the queen selection process is little known for Epiponini. For this reason, we aimed to study the behaviour of queens and workers during queen selection in multiple species of Epiponini, integrate information from previous behavioural studies, and perform a comparative analysis to interpret changes evolutionarily. We conducted observations on nine species belonging to five genera: Brachygastra, Chartergellus, Metapolybia, Polybia and Protopolybia. Females were individually marked to make direct and video observations. Queen production was artificially induced. A total of 28 behaviours related to queen selection were identified. The most aggressive interactions between castes, such as bite and dart, were lost in the major lineages of Epiponini. Bending display I is an ancient behaviour used as the main dominance display. Behaviours exhibited by workers to test queen status arose in the common ancestor of the Epiponini and are not shared by other polistine wasps. Consequently, the act of workers testing queen status probably was present in the Epiponini ancestor. Ritualized test display and dominance behaviours are used in Epiponini as honest signals of the queen's reproductive potential instead of aggressive behaviours. Caste flexibility had already been suggested as the ground plan for Epiponini and is herein discussed as decisive for colony survival of swarm wasps, because it allows colonies to respond efficiently to different situations that may eventually arise.
所有埃皮波尼尼黄蜂都是多雌型的，在群体周期中有多个蚁后交替出现。在这个周期的早期阶段有几只潜在的蚁后，但随着周期的推进，蚁后的数量会减少。由于大多数个体在生殖方面仍具有全能性，因此在繁殖方面存在很大的冲突可能性。工蜂在控制蚁后产生方面可能具有优势，因为它们的数量比蚁后多得多。然而，对于埃皮波尼尼黄蜂来说，蚁后选择过程却鲜为人知。出于这个原因，我们旨在研究多种埃皮波尼尼黄蜂在蚁后选择过程中蚁后和工蜂的行为，整合先前行为研究的信息，并进行比较分析以从进化角度解释变化。我们对属于五个属的九个物种进行了观察：短腹胡蜂属、查特盖卢斯属、后多角胡蜂属、多角胡蜂属和原多角胡蜂属。对雌性个体进行单独标记以便进行直接观察和视频观察。人工诱导蚁后产生。总共识别出了28种与蚁后选择相关的行为。在埃皮波尼尼黄蜂的主要谱系中，不同等级之间最具攻击性的互动，如撕咬和猛扑，已经消失。弯曲展示I是一种古老的行为，用作主要的优势展示。工蜂用来测试蚁后地位的行为出现在埃皮波尼尼黄蜂的共同祖先中，其他多栉黄蜂并不具备。因此，工蜂测试蚁后地位的行为可能存在于埃皮波尼尼黄蜂的祖先中。仪式化的测试展示和优势行为在埃皮波尼尼黄蜂中被用作蚁后生殖潜力的诚实信号，而非攻击性行为。种姓灵活性早已被认为是埃皮波尼尼黄蜂的基本模式，本文将其讨论为群居黄蜂群体生存的决定性因素，因为它使群体能够有效地应对最终可能出现的不同情况。
