The choice of sexual partner in eusocial wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae)

• Grant number: 15/05302-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Grantee: André Rodrigues de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/18254-7 - DIRECT BENEFITS RESULTING FROM FEMALE MATE CHOICE FOR ORNAMENTED MALES: THE PHENOTYPE-LINKED FERTILITY HIPOTHESIS IN THE EUSOCIAL PAPER WASP Polistes dominula (HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE: POLISTINAE), BE.EP.PD

Abstract

During the mating season, males and future queens of social insects left colonies to find a sexual partner. In this period, individuals typically interact with different potential partners before choose that one/those ones to copulate with. The main objective of this project is to investigate, in social wasps, the adaptive meaning and the proximal mechanisms involved in mate choice. As study models, we will use the wasps P. dominula, P. simillimus and P. versicolor. Five Questions were formulated: Do wasps prefer to copulate with unrelated rather than related partners? If so, do wasps use cuticular hydrocarbons as cues for intersexual nestmate discrimination? Do females prefer males with better quality sperm? Do females prefer males that produce more sperm cells? Do males prefer females with greater probability of direct reproduction? To answer these questions, we will use the experimental, behavioral, chemical and cellular approaches. We hope that the results obtained with this Project will interesting for the scientific community that studies how sexual selection shapes the behavior and morphology of organisms. (AU)

Scientific publications

(13)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; MARQUES TEIXEIRA, GABRAZANE VENANCIO; DO NASCIMENTO, FABIO SANTOS. Individually distinctive facial patterning without a signal value: a case of `missing' social knowledge in the paper wasp Polistes versicolor?. BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY, v. 71, n. 10, OCT 2017. (15/25301-9, 15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; SIMOES, TALITTA GUIMARAES; RANTALA, MARKUS J.; SANTOS, EDUARDO FERNANDO; LINO-NETTO, JOSE; DO NASCIMENTO, FABIO SANTOS. Sexual ornaments reveal the strength of melanization immune response and for longevity of male paper wasps. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY, v. 109, p. 163-168, AUG-SEP 2018. (15/25301-9, 15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; LINO-NETO, JOSE; DO NASCIMENTO, FABIO SANTOS. Pushing Wasps to Work: Decentralized Aggression Induces Increased Activity in the Paper Wasp Polistes versicolor. Journal of Insect Behavior, v. 30, n. 4, p. 360-373, JUL 2017. (15/25301-9, 15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE R.; TURILLAZZI, STEFANO; LINO-NETO, JOSE; SANTINI, GIACOMO. Colder environments may select for darker paper wasps. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 120, n. 3, p. 700-704, MAR 1 2017. (15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; MARQUES TEIXEIRA, GABRAZANE VENANCIO; DO NASCIMENTO, FABIO SANTOS. Individually distinctive facial patterning without a signal value: a case of 'missing' social knowledge in the paper wasp Polistes versicolor?. BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY, v. 71, n. 10, p. 12-pg., 2017-10-01. (15/05302-0, 15/25301-9)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; BAPTISTA, CAMILA FOLLY; SANTOS, EDUARDO FERNANDO; DA SILVA, RAFAEL CARVALHO; PRATO, AMANDA DA SILVA; ANTONIALLI-JUNIOR, WILLIAM; PEREIRA SOARES, EVA RAMONA; BARBOSA, BRUNO CORREA; DO NASCIMENTO, FABIO SANTOS; LINO-NETO, JOSE. Morphological caste differences in primitively eusocial insects: the Van der Vecht organ of Mischocyttarus paper wasps. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 130, n. 3, p. 545-554, JUL 2020. (15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; DA SILVA, RAFAEL CARVALHO; FERREIRA, RIUDO PAIVA; MATEUS, SIDNEI; PRATO, AMANDA; OI, CINTIA AKEMI; NOLL, FERNANDO BARBOSA; LINO-NETO, JOSE. Larval sex identification of in vivo and long-term ethanol-preserved social wasps. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, v. 168, n. 9, AUG 2020. (15/05302-0, 18/22461-3, 18/10996-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; BARBOSA, BRUNO CORREA; DA SILVA, RAFAEL CARVALHO; PREZOTO, FABIO; LINO-NETO, JOSE; DO NASCIMENTO, FABIO SANTOS. No Evidence of Intersexual Kin Recognition by Males of the Neotropical Paper Wasp Polistes versicolor. Journal of Insect Behavior, v. 30, n. 2, p. 180-187, MAR 2017. (15/05302-0)

DOGANTZIS, KATHLEEN A.; HARPUR, BROCK A.; RODRIGUES, ANDRE; BEANI, LAURA; TOTH, AMY L.; ZAYED, AMRO. Insects with similar social complexity show convergent patterns of adaptive molecular evolution. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 8, JUL 10 2018. (15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE R.; MAYORQUIN, ANGIE Z.; SARMIENTO, CARLOS E.. Paper wasps are darker at high elevation. Journal of Thermal Biology, v. 89, APR 2020. (15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE R.; LINO-NETO, JOSE; TIBBETTS, ELIZABETH A.; TURILLAZZI, STEFANO; BEANI, LAURA. The leks of Polistes dominula paper wasps: tiny abdominal spots play a critical role in male attacks toward potential rivals. ETHOLOGY ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, v. 29, n. 4, p. 410-419, 2017. (15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE R.; BAPTISTA, CAMILA FOLLY; LINO-NETO, JOSE. The sternal brush of the Van der Vecht organ scales isometrically with body size: implications for the study of incipient morphological castes in primitively eusocial wasps. ETHOLOGY ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, v. 29, n. 5, p. 511-519, 2017. (15/05302-0)

DE SOUZA, ANDRE RODRIGUES; FOLLY, CAMILA; DIAS, GLENDA; DOS SANTOS, EDUARDO FERNANDO; LINO-NETO, JOSE. Sperm morphometric in males of the paper wasp Polistes simillimus. BULLETIN OF INSECTOLOGY, v. 71, n. 1, p. 51-56, JUN 2018. (15/05302-0)