A behavioral guard caste in a primitively eusocial orchid bee, Euglossa viridissima, helps defend the nest against resin theft by conspecifics

Boff, Samuel; Forfert, Nadège; Paxton, Robert J.; Montejo, E.; Quezada-Euán, J. J. G.

doi:10.1007/s00040-015-0397-3

Cited by 15 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…This common behaviour trait developed by young bees seems to maximize resin use inside the nest. In contrast to primitively eusocial orchid bees there was no evidence for the presence of a single dominant female as seen for Euglossa atroveneta Dressler, 1978(Ramirez-Arriaga et al, 1996, E. fimbriata and Euglossa cordata Linnaeus, 1758 (Augusto & Garófalo, 2009;2010, respectively) and E. melanotricha (Andrade-Silva & Nascimento, 2012;Andrade et al, 2016) neither for the presence of a subordinated female specialized in guarding the nest entrance as reported for Euglossa viridissima Friese, 1899 (Boff et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In communal Euglossini species, as it was described previously Cameron 2004;Otero et al 2008), individuals share the same nest cavity with no interaction or alloparental care between the nestmates (da Silva et al, 2016;Dew et al, 2016). Yet primitively eusocial orchid bee species show overlapping generations, some division of labour, dominance behaviour, offspring control through oophagy (Cocom-Pech et al, 2008;Augusto & Garofalo, 2009; and may present subordinate female specialization in guarding the nest entrance (Boff et al, 2015).…”

Section: Research Article -Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple Aggressions Among Nestmates Lead to Weak Dominance Hampering Primitively Eusocial Behaviour in an Orchid Bee

Boff¹,

Saito²,

Santos³

2017

Sociobiology

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Reproductive conflict expressed as aggression is common in social Hymenoptera. In eusocial species, as in honeybees, several mechanisms alleviate the conflicts and reduce aggressive interactions. Unlike their sister group, the orchid bees do not exhibit eusociality. Instead, most of the species seem to have lost sociality and some species have retained vestigial social behaviour. In the current study we investigated the aggressive interactions of females of Euglossa annectans Dressler through five generations of phylopatry and reuse of the natal nest. Although network analysis indicates that central individuals, those with more interactions, were more commonly the aggressors and others were more commonly the recipients, multiple attacks and several potential dominant female within the nest indicated a labile sociality. This suggests that there is an unstable social hierarchy in the species. Euglossa annectans, despite having overlapping generations, during which several individuals share a nest, there is no division of labour into reproductive and interactions are often competitive. Aggressive behaviours conducted by multiple fertile females were often followed by egg, larvae or pupae replacement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Research Article -Beesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple Aggressions Among Nestmates Lead to Weak Dominance Hampering Primitively Eusocial Behaviour in an Orchid Bee

Boff¹,

Saito²,

Santos³

2017

Sociobiology

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“…We observed that social nests were often shared by more than three females. One of the females was specialized in guarding the nest entrance, which might be an adaption to prevent nest usurpation and tentative robbery of nest material (Boff et al, ). These behaviours seem to be an adaptive response to environmental conditions when resources are scarcer (May‐Itzá et al, ), and it might also lead to the formation of social nest associations between unrelated females, when philopatric offspring from intraspecific parasitized or usurped nests establish a social association.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A helper on the other hand might have only a small share in the direct reproduction but may benefit from indirect fitness effects through relatedness (Andrade, Miranda, Del Lama, & Nascimento, 2016), according to kinship theory (Bourke, 2011), thus increasing her inclusive fitness (Gardner, West, & Wild, 2011;Hamilton, 1964;West, 2002). By staying in the natal nest and assisting with brood care, a helper might avoid the costs of dispersal (Bonte et al, 2012;Perrin & Mazalov, 2000), the energetic costs of nest establishment, the risk of predation (Comins, Hamilton, & May, 1980;Gandon, 1999;Reader, Higginson, Barnard, & Gilbert, 2006), improve defence against parasites (Blacher et al, 2013;Hamilton, 1971;Pamminger, Foitzik, Metzler, & Pennings, 2014;Rosenheim, 1990;Wcislo, 1996) or against resource theft from conspecifics (Boff, Forfert, Paxton, Montejo, & Quezada-Euán, 2015). Furthermore, she can take over the nest when the former dominant dies or disappears.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared reproduction and sex ratio adjustment to clutch size in a socially polymorphic orchid bee

et al. 2019

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Nests of the primitively eusocial orchid bee Euglossa viridissima are generally founded by a solitary female but can be reactivated by female offspring, in the presence or absence of the mother. The population therefore exists of solitary and social nests that co‐occur in an area. A female can stay as a subordinate helper under a dominant female or disperse to become a solitary foundress. Yet, the costs and benefits of the different social phenotypes are so far little understood. Here, we compared solitary and social nests of orchid bees. We used offspring of solitary and social nests to calculate offspring sex ratio, and applied molecular markers to calculate intranidal relatedness, infer maternity and test whether sociality may have a genetic component. We found that social nests had on average more brood than solitary nests. The overall sex ratio in the population did not differ from 1:1. However, social nests tended to produce a split sex ratio with some nests producing mainly males and others mainly female offspring. Regardless of social phenotype, the number of offspring was correlated with the sex ratio, with smaller nests having a more female‐biased offspring. In social nests, not all offspring resulted from a single‐mated mother, which was also the case for some solitary nests. This suggests shared reproduction in social nests and may be an indication that intraspecific parasitism and nest takeover are not uncommon. Structure analyses did not reveal different genetic background of the two social phenotypes. Our results suggest that there is no clear benefit that favours one of the two social phenotypes over the other and that the population is kept at balance in terms of sex ratio.

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“…This eusocial organization is shared with the related tribe Meliponini (stingless bees), while bumble bees (Bombini) occupy the primitively eusocial behavioral grade (Michener 1974, 2007). The putatively basalmost tribe of corbiculate bees, the Euglossini (orchid bees), are solitary or communal, with a few examples of primitive eusocial behavior in some species (Boff et al 2015; Andrade et al 2016). Relationships among these tribes have been controversial, although most evidence converges on a Darwinian null-hypothesis supporting a single origin of eusociality in the common ancestor of Bombini + Meliponini + Apini, and a single origin of the highly eusocial grade in the common ancestor of Meliponini + Apini (Michener 1990; Schultz et al 1999, 2001; Engel 2001a; Noll 2002; Cardinal and Packer 2007; Canevazzi and Noll 2015; Porto et al 2016, in press).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A primitive honey bee from the Middle Miocene deposits of southeastern Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Engel

Wang

Alqarni

et al. 2018

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While fossils of honey bees (Apini: Apis Linnaeus) are comparatively abundant in European Oligocene and Miocene deposits, the available material from Asia is scant and represented by only a handful of localities. It is therefore significant to report a new deposit with a fossil honey bee from southern China. Apis (Synapis) dalica Engel & Wappler, sp. n., is described and figured from Middle Miocene sediments of Maguan County, southeastern Yunnan Province, China. This is the first fossil bee from the Cenozoic of southern China, and is distinguished from its close congeners present at the slightly older locality of Shanwang, Shandong in northeastern China. The species can be distinguished on the basis of wing venation differences from other Miocene Apis.

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A behavioral guard caste in a primitively eusocial orchid bee, Euglossa viridissima, helps defend the nest against resin theft by conspecifics

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

Multiple Aggressions Among Nestmates Lead to Weak Dominance Hampering Primitively Eusocial Behaviour in an Orchid Bee

Multiple Aggressions Among Nestmates Lead to Weak Dominance Hampering Primitively Eusocial Behaviour in an Orchid Bee

Shared reproduction and sex ratio adjustment to clutch size in a socially polymorphic orchid bee

A primitive honey bee from the Middle Miocene deposits of southeastern Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

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