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Sperm mixing in the polyandrous leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior

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posted on 2023-06-09, 00:43 authored by Marlene Stürup, David R Nash, William HughesWilliam Hughes, Jacobus J Boomsma
The insemination of queens by sperm from multiple males (polyandry) has evolved in a number of eusocial insect lineages despite the likely costs of the behavior. The selective advantages in terms of colony fitness must therefore also be significant and there is now good evidence that polyandry increases genetic variation among workers, thereby improving the efficiency of division of labor, resistance against disease, and diluting the impact of genetically incompatible matings. However, these advantages will only be maximized if the sperm of initially discrete ejaculates are mixed when stored in queen spermathecae and used for egg fertilization in a “fair raffle.” Remarkably, however, very few studies have addressed the level of sperm mixing in social insects. Here we analyzed sperm use over time in the highly polyandrous leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior. We genotyped cohorts of workers produced either 2 months apart or up to over a year apart, and batches of eggs laid up to over 2 years apart, and tested whether fluctuations in patriline distributions deviated from random. We show that the representation of father males in both egg and worker cohorts does not change over time, consistent with obligatorily polyandrous queens maximizing their fitness when workers are as genetically diverse as possible.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Ecology and Evolution

ISSN

2045-7758

Publisher

Wiley Open Access

Issue

18

Volume

4

Page range

3571-3582

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-04-04

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-04-04

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-04-04

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