| Intergenerational reproductive parasitism in a stingless bee. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 19778383 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
Insect colonies have been traditionally regarded as closed societies comprised of completely sterile workers ruled over by a single once-mated queen. However, over the past 15 years, microsatellite studies of parentage have revealed that this perception is far from the truth (Beekman & Oldroyd 2008). First, we learned that honey bee queens are far more promiscuous than we had previously imagined (Estoup et al. 1994), with one Apis dorsata queen clocked at over 100 mates (Wattanachaiyingcharoen et al. 2003). Then Oldroyd et al. (1994) reported a honey bee colony from Queensland, where virtually all the males were sons of a single patriline of workers - a clear case of a cheater mutant that promoted intra-colonial reproductive parasitism. Then we learned that both bumble bee colonies (Lopez-Vaamonde et al. 2004) and queenless honey bee colonies (Nanork et al. 2005, 2007) are routinely parasitized by workers from other nests that fly in and lay male-producing eggs that are then reared by the victim colony. There is even evidence that in a thelytokous honey bee population, workers lay female-destined eggs directly into queen cells, thus reincarnating themselves as a queen (Jordan et al. 2008). And let us not forget ants, where microsatellite studies have revealed equally bizarre and totally unexpected phenomena (e.g. Cahan & Keller 2003; Pearcy et al. 2004; Fournier et al. 2005). Now, in this issue, Alves et al. (2009) use microsatellites to provide yet another shocking and completely unexpected revelation about the nefarious goings-on in insect colonies: intergenerational reproductive parasitism by stingless bee workers. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Benjamin P Oldroyd; Madeleine Beekman |
Related Documents
:
|
20539783 - The evolution of honest queen pheromones in insect societies. 20476693 - Assisted reproductive technologies in portuguese law--commentary to the judgment no. 10... 22294593 - Breakout session c summary: current virus detection methods. |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Comment; Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Molecular ecology Volume: 18 ISSN: 1365-294X ISO Abbreviation: Mol. Ecol. Publication Date: 2009 Oct |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2009-09-25 Completed Date: 2009-11-09 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 9214478 Medline TA: Mol Ecol Country: England |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 3958-60 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
|
Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. boldroyd@bio.usyd.edu.au |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Animals Bees / genetics*, physiology Microsatellite Repeats Parasites / genetics*, physiology Reproduction / genetics Sexual Behavior, Animal* |
| Comments/Corrections | |
Comment On:
|
Mol Ecol. 2009 Oct;18(19):4102-11
[PMID:
19744267
]
|
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Where the rare species are.
Next Document: The emergence of cognitive hearing science.