Sexual interactions and nestmate recognition in in

Authors: A E Liebert N WilsonRich C E Johnson P T Starks

Publish Date: 2010/06/02

Volume: 57, Issue: 4, Pages: 457-463

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Abstract

Many social insect species have mating systems or recognition abilities that minimize the chance of inbreeding In haplodiploid systems inbreeding is especially costly due to the production of sterile offspring such as diploid males Diploid males and their triploid offspring have been identified in invasive populations of the paper wasp Polistes dominulus but to date have not been reported in its native populations Due to the degree of genetic diversity in the invasive populations it is unlikely that the production of these genetic ‘misfits’ is the result of a genetic bottleneck alone but rather that errors in nestmate recognition may play a role Here we investigated sexual interactions and nestmate recognition in male and female P dominulus We observed nine types of behavioral interactions 55 h of behavioral observation consisting of 1514 interactions from triads of paper wasps composed of one gyne female and two males—one nestmate male and one nonnestmate male The frequency of male or femaleinitiated aggressive behavior did not differ between nestmates or nonnestmates Nonnestmates were more likely to attempt to copulate with the gyne but successful copulations were very rare and occurred between nonnestmates and nestmates We discuss these results within the context of invasion biologyThe authors thank G Switz R Brown and S Weiner for assistance with specimen collection and care S Rubin was of great assistance in conducting trials and gathering data We also thank two anonymous reviewers and Laura Beani for thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript This project was funded by an NSF REU grant to PTS These experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed USA

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