Cooperation is subject to cheating strategies that exploit the benefits of cooperation without paying the fair costs, and it has been a major goal of evolutionary biology to explain the origin and maintenance of cooperation against such cheaters. Here, we report that cheater genotypes indeed coexist in field colonies of a social insect, the parthenogenetic ant Pristomyrmex punctatus. The life history of this species is exceptional, in that there is no reproductive division of labour: all females fulfil both reproduction and cooperative tasks. Previous studies reported sporadic occurrence of larger individuals when compared with their nest-mates. These larger ants lay more eggs and hardly take part in cooperative tasks, resulting in lower fitness of the whole colony. Population genetic analysis showed that at least some of these largebodied individuals form a genetically distinct lineage, isolated from cooperators by parthenogenesis. A phylogenetic study confirmed that this cheater lineage originated intraspecifically. Coexistence of cheaters and cooperators in this species provides a good model system to investigate the evolution of cooperation in nature.

Some Formicid ants have symbiotic intracellular bacteria in the epithelial cells of their midgut. These endosymbionts are believed to be derived from a common ancestor. A recent study revealed that endosymbionts of the ant genus Camponotus are closely related to Enterobacteriaceae, but their relationship to endosymbionts of other genera of ants is unknown. In this study, the nucleotide sequences of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) of endosymbionts and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) of their host were determined in five genera of the subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Based on these molecular data, we constructed phylogenetic trees in order to characterize the systematic position of the symbionts and to estimate the relationship of symbionts and hosts. The analysis showed that the endosymbionts were all connected with the Enterobacteriaceae but did not constitute a monophylitic group, while the three genera belonging to the tribe Camponotini, the endosymbionts and their hosts made a clade. The topologies of these trees were identical for the most part. These results suggest that the endosymbionts of ants have plural origins, and that in the Camponotini, ancestral symbionts have coevolved with their host ants, which are so divergent to several genera as to construct one tribe

In colonies of the queen-polymorphic ant Vollenhovia emeryi, some colonies produce only long-winged (L) queens, while others produce only short-winged (S) queens. At four nuclear microsatellite loci, males in the S colony had alleles that were different from those of their queen. This suggests that the nuclear genome of males is not inherited from their colony queen, as has also been described for Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger). In V. emeryi the possibility of male transfer from other colonies has not been ruled out because previous studies of this species have obtained only nuclear gene information. We analyzed both mitochondrial and nuclear genes for S queens, S males and L queens to clarify the origins of males. Sequence analyses showed that although S queens and S males shared the same mtDNA haplotype, they had a different genotype at a nuclear gene (long-wavelength opsin) locus. Neighbor-joining analysis based on the four microsatellite loci also suggested gene pool separation between S queens and S males. These results are consistent with predictions of clonal reproduction by males. While L queens share opsin genotypes with S males, they have very different mtDNA sequences. Hybridization in the near past between S queens and L males or gene transmission from S males to L queen populations in the present would explain these differences.

Molecular phylogenetic analyses were conducted for the insect order Odonata with a focus on testing the effectiveness of a slowly evolving gene to resolve deep branching and also to examine: (i) the monophyly of damselflies (the suborder Zygoptera); and (ii) the phylogenetic position of the relict dragonfly Epiophlebia superstes. Two independent molecular sources were used to reconstruct phylogeny: the 16S rRNA gene on the mitochondrial genome and the 28S rRNA gene on the nuclear genome. A comparison of the sequences showed that the obtained 28S rDNA sequences have evolved at a much slower rate than the 16S rDNA, and that the former is better than the latter for resolving deep branching in the Odonata. Both molecular sources indicated that the Zygoptera are paraphyletic, and when a reasonable weighting for among-site rate variation was enforced for the 16S rDNA data set, E. superstes was placed between the two remaining major suborders, namely, Zygoptera and Anisoptera (dragonflies). Character reconstruction analysis suggests that multiple hits at the rapidly evolving sites in the 16S rDNA degenerated the phylogenetic signals of the data set.

No abstract

Inclusive fitness theory, also known as kin selection theory, is the most general expansion of Darwin's natural selection theory. It is supported by female-biased investment by workers in the social Hymenoptera where relatedness to sisters is higher than to brothers because of haplodiploidy. However, a strong test of the theory has proven difficult in diploid social insects because they lack such relatedness asymmetry. Here we show that kin selection can result in sex ratio bias in eusocial diploids. Our model predicts that allocation will be biased towards the sex that contributes more of its genes to the next generation when sex-asymmetric inbreeding occurs. The prediction matches well with the empirical sex allocation of Reticulitermes termites where the colony king can be replaced by a queen's son. Our findings open broad new avenues to test inclusive fitness theory beyond the well-studied eusocial Hymenoptera.

Production of the major subcaste and its contribution to nest survival in the dimorphic ant Colobopsis nipponicus was examined in the field. In this species, the first major workers were reared in the second brood, very early in the colony life cycle. A field experiment demonstrated that artificial colonies without major workers could not survive, whereas colonies with at least one major worker per nest entrance could. Because major workers of C. nipponicus defend the nest entrance by head plugging, the lack of nest defenders in the experimental colonies seemed to be a major cause of nest failure. The defensive value of major workers was much higher than that of minor workers. Many artificial colonies without major workers were displaced by competitors for nest sites, especially by those of other conspecific colonies. In addition, more than 90% of field colonies nested with other conspecific colonies on the same tree.The early production of major workers in C. nipponicus seemed to be very important for the survival of incipient colonies.

The validity of Hamilton's rule has been confirmed among cooperative breeders where helping behaviour is transient; however, Hamilton's rule has not been validated among eusocial insects where helpers commit for life. Here we conduct a direct test of Hamilton's rule using field populations of Lasioglossum baleicum bees, which inhabit sympatric solitary and eusocial nests. our results show that the indirect fitness of sterile first-brood workers is higher than the direct fitness of solitary first-brood females, and spring foundresses achieve a large direct fitness by having helpers. These fitness benefits are attributed to markedly higher larval survival rates in multiple-female nests, and intruding into an unrelated nest yields a moderate degree of direct fitness, but coexistence with unrelated females also increase overall brood survival. We discuss reasons why various types of cooperation are maintained in Lasioglossum baleicum with relation to that how a multiple-female nesting improves larval survival.