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ALLOZYME VARIATION, RELATEDNESS AMONG PROGENY IN A NEST, AND SEX RATIO IN THE LEAFCUTTER BEE, MEGACHILE ROTUNDATA (FABRICIUS) (HYMENOPTERA: MEGACHILIDAE)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

D.B. McCorquodale  and
R.E. Owen
D.B. McCorquodale
Affiliation:
Department of Behavioural and Life Sciences, University College of Cape Breton, Box 5300, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada B1P 6L2
R.E. Owen
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3E 6K6 and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
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Abstract

We assessed enzyme variability in a solitary leafcutter bee, Megachile rotundata (Fabricius), and found sufficient variability to compare relatedness among progeny in a nest in two samples: (1) nests with an associated adult female (putative mother) and (2) nests with out-of-sequence male progeny (M. rotundata, like most cavity-nesting solitary aculeates, usually provisions all female cells in a nest before any male cells). Estimates of relatedness from nests with associated adult females were consistent with the progeny in a nest being closely related and the offspring of a single, once-mated female. The relatedness estimates from nests with out-of-sequence males were all much lower, suggesting some combination of nest parasitism, nest usurpation, nest abandonment, and multiply mated females in these nests. The high levels of relatedness among female progeny in the first sample, as expected for full sisters in a haplodiploid system, are considered with respect to the evolution of social behaviour in the Hymenoptera. Besides higher estimates of relatedness, the nests with an associated female also had a lower male:female sex ratio than did nests with out-of-sequence males.

Résumé

Nous avons estimé la variabilité enzymatique chez une abeille découpeuse solitaire, Megachile rotundata (Fabricius), et avons trouvé suffisamment de variabilité pour comparer les liens de parenté entre rejetons d’un même nid dans deux échantillons (1) nids où il y avait une femelle adulte associée (mère putative) et (2) nids avec progéniture de mâles apparus hors de l’ordre habituel (M. rotundata, comme la plupart des aculéates solitaires qui nichent dans des cavités, approvisionne ordinairement toutes les cellules de femelles dans un nid avant d’approvisionner celles des mâles). L’estimation des liens de parenté dans les nids à femelles associées a permis de reconnaître une progéniture composée de rejetons très apparentés, produits par une seule femelle, accouplée une seule fois. Dans les nids contenant des mâles apparus hors de l’ordre habituel, les liens de parenté étaient beaucoup moins forts, ce qui semble indiquer l’existence d’une combinaison de divers facteurs, parasitisme des nids, usurpation des nids, abandon, accouplements multiples des femelles. Les liens de parenté étroits au sein de la progéniture des femelles du premier échantillon, caractéristiques de femelles soeurs dans un système haplodiploïde, sont examinés en fonction de l’évolution du comportement social chez les hyménoptères. Outre l’étroitesse des liens de parenté observés, le rapport mâles : femelles dans les nids associés à une femelle était plus faible que dans les nids contenant des mâles apparus hors de l’ordre habituel.

[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 129 , Issue 2 , April 1997 , pp. 211 - 219
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1997

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