Title

Detecting Selection On Morphological Traits In Social Insect Castes: The Case Of The Social Wasp Vespula Maculifrons

Keywords

Allometry; Dimorphism; Genetic architecture; Genetic correlation; Hymenoptera; Morphology; Social insect; Yellowjacket

Abstract

Highly social insects dominate terrestrial ecosystems because society members belong to discrete castes that undertake distinct tasks. The distinct functional roles of members of different castes may lead to divergent selective regimes, which may ultimately lead to morphological specialization and differentiation of the castes. This study used morphological and genetic analyses to identify traits that experienced caste-specific selection in the social wasp Vespula maculifrons (Buysson, 1905). Traits putatively under selection were identified based on their degree of caste dimorphism, levels of variability, strength of correlations with other traits, and patterns of allometric scaling. Analyses of trait characteristics suggested that queen thorax length, thorax width, and possibly mass, have experienced queen-specific selection. Additionally, trait dimorphism and intercaste phenotypic correlation values were negatively correlated, as expected if some morphological traits were subject to selection, leading to alternate phenotypic optima in the two castes. Overall, our analyses demonstrate how techniques used to identify selection between dimorphic groups can be applied to social species with distinct castes. In addition, our analyses suggest the operation of selection may be stronger in reproductive than in non-reproductive castes. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London.

Publication Date

9-1-2010

Publication Title

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

Volume

101

Issue

1

Number of Pages

93-102

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2010.01495.x

Socpus ID

77955970054 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77955970054

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS