Mating success in the polyandrous social wasp Vespula maculifrons

    Authors

    J. L. Kovacs; E. A. Hoffman;M. A. D. Goodisman

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Ethology

    Keywords

    WESTERN HARVESTER ANT; SEXUAL SELECTION; POGONOMYRMEX-OCCIDENTALIS; EASTERN YELLOWJACKET; BOMBUS-TERRESTRIS; COLONY FITNESS; MATE CHOICE; BODY-SIZE; HYMENOPTERA; EVOLUTION; Psychology, Biological; Behavioral Sciences; Zoology

    Abstract

    The mating decisions made by social insect males and females profoundly affect the structure of colonies and populations. However, few studies have used experimental approaches to understand mating behavior and mate choice in social insect taxa. This study investigated mating success in the polyandrous social wasp Vespula maculifrons. Mating trials were designed to test predictions that characteristics of body size and colony-of-origin would affect mating success. We first investigated if size differences existed among individuals and found that males from different colonies differed significantly in the size of nine morphological traits. However, male trait size was not significantly associated with male mating success. In contrast, females from different colonies differed significantly in only six of the nine measured traits, and four of these traits were associated with successful mating behaviors. Specifically, the correlated traits of gaster length, third tergum length, antennal length, and total length were positively associated with female mating success. Thus, long females experience mating advantages over females that are short. We also found that males and females from one particular colony displayed significantly greater mating activity than individuals from other colonies. Thus, the colony from which individuals originate plays an important role in determining mating success. Finally, our experiments failed to detect any evidence of nestmate avoidance during the mating trials. Overall, our data suggest that social insect reproductives may experience differential mating success based on their phenotype or developmental environment.

    Journal Title

    Ethology

    Volume

    114

    Issue/Number

    4

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    340

    Last Page

    350

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000253982300004

    ISSN

    0179-1613

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