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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Queen Execution, Diploid Males, and Selection For and Against Polyandry in the Brazilian Stingless Bee Scaptotrigona depilis

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Author(s):
Vollet-Neto, Ayrton [1] ; Imperatriz-Fonseca, Vera L. [2, 3, 1] ; Ratnieks, Francis L. W. [4]
Total Authors: 3
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, Dept Biol, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil
[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil
[3] Inst Tecnol Vale, Belem, Para - Brazil
[4] Univ Sussex, Sch Life Sci, LASI, Brighton BN1 9QG, E Sussex - England
Total Affiliations: 4
Document type: Journal article
Source: American Naturalist; v. 194, n. 5, p. 725-735, NOV 2019.
Web of Science Citations: 1
Abstract

Female mating frequency varies. Determining the causes of this variation is an active research area. We tested the hypothesis that in stingless bees, Meliponini, single mating is due to the execution of queens that make a matched mating at the complementary sex determination locus and have diploid male offspring. We studied the Brazilian species Scaptotrigona depilis. We made up 70 test colonies so that 50% (single matched mating), 25% (double mating), 12.5% (quadruple mating), or 0% (single nonmatched mating) of the emerging brood were diploid males. Queen execution following diploid male emergence was equal and high in colonies producing 50% (77% executed) and 25% (75%) diploid males versus equal and low in colonies producing 12.5% (7%) and 0% (0%) diploid males. These results show that queens that mate with two males with similar paternity suffer an increased chance of being executed, which selects against double mating. However, double mating with unequal paternity (e.g., 25:75), which occasionally occurs in S. depilis, is selectively neutral. Single mating and double mating with unequal paternity form one adaptive peak. The results show a second adaptive peak at quadruple mating. However, this is inaccessible via gradual evolutionary change in a selective landscape with reduced fitness at double mating. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 12/11144-0 - Evolution of mating systems in stingless bees (Apidae, Meliponini)
Grantee:Ayrton Vollet Neto
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate