A scientific note on the mating frequency of <i>Apis dorsata</i>

Wattanachaiyingcharoen, Wandee; Oldroyd, Benjamin P.; Wongsiri, Siriwat; Palmer, Kellie A.; Paar, Jürgen

doi:10.1051/apido:2002044

Cited by 52 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In some species mating frequencies are extremely high. In the giant Asian honeybee, Apis dorsata Fabricius, females mate with more than 50 drones (Moritz et al, 1995;Oldroyd et al, 1996;Wattanachaiyingcharoen et al, 2003). Likewise, mating frequencies exceeding 40 were recently reported for the medium sized cavity nesting honeybee A. nigrocincta Smith ).…”

Section: H Schlüns Et Almentioning

confidence: 78%

Paternity skew in seven species of honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)

et al. 2005

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-Honeybees (Apis) show an extremely polyandrous mating system. In general honeybee queens mate with at least ten drones. The reproductive success of the drones is usually biased giving rise to speculations of a first or last male advantage. Especially for A. andreniformis and A. florea a first male advantage was hypothesized due to the peculiar anatomy of their male genitalia. We reanalyzed data from the literature by using a sample size calibration method to survey the differences and similarities in paternity skew among species in the genus Apis. The paternity skew among seven honeybee species differed significantly, particularly due to the rare patrilines. The sorting algorithm, i.e. the ranking of the patrilines, had, however, a considerable effect on the paternity skew pattern. The frequent patrilines appeared to be similarly distributed in all tested species. As a consequence the proposed first male advantage in the dwarf honeybees is not supported by empirical data.Apis / honeybee / polyandry / patrilines / paternity skew

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Section: H Schlüns Et Almentioning

confidence: 78%

Paternity skew in seven species of honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)

et al. 2005

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“…Honeybee queens, for example, can mate with over a hundred males (Wattanachaiyingcharoen et al 2003). This, together with the probable costs, suggests that high levels of polyandry can have benefits to queen fitness.…”

Section: Acromyrmex and Pogonomyrmex])mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Diversity and Disease Resistance in Leaf-Cutting Ant Societies

Hughes

Boomsma

2004

Evol

110

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Abstract.•Multiple mating by females (polyandry) remains hard to explain because, while it has substantial costs, clear benefits have remained elusive. The problem is acute in the social insects because polyandry is probably particularly costly for females and most material benefits of the behavior are unlikely to apply. It has been suggested that a fitness benefit may arise from the more genetically diverse worker force that a polyandrous queen will produce. One leading hypothesis is that the increased genetic diversity of workers will improve a colony's resistance to disease. We investigated this hypothesis using a polyandrous leaf-cutting ant and a virulent fungal parasite as our model system. At high doses of the parasite most patrilines within colonies were similarly susceptible, but a few showed greater resistance. At a low dose of the parasite there was more variation between patrilines in their resistance to the parasite. Such genetic variation is a key prerequisite for polyandry to result in increased disease resistance of colonies. The relatedness of two hosts did not appear to affect the transmission of the parasite between them, but this was most likely because the parasite tested was a virulent generalist that is adapted to transmit between distantly related hosts. The resistance to the parasite was compared between small groups of ants of either high or low genetic diversity. No difference was found at high doses of the parasite, but a significant improvement in resistance in high genetic diversity groups was found at a low dose of the parasite. That there is genetic variation for disease resistance means that there is the potential for polyandry to produce more disease-resistant colonies. That this genetic variation can improve the resistance of groups even under the limited conditions tested suggests that polyandry may indeed produce colonies with improved resistance to disease.

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“…A more detailed analysis reveals that there is not a strong selection pressure for unsigners to emerge in the population of signers. Since σ/υ < 2, by (26), an unsigner would do better, but not much better than signers. Indeed, N uS > N sS − 1, and thus the queen will mate with almost the same number of drones.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…However, some social insects, such as leaf cutter ants, army ants, harvester ants form notable exceptions [3,27,15]. Honey bees provide probably the most striking case because queens of several species in their genus Apis can mate with over forty different males (drones) during a very short time at the beginning of their lives [5,26]. Honey bee queens and drones mature for about one week in their parental colony before they leave for mating flights [30,22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Game Theoretical Analysis of the Mating Sign Behavior in the Honey Bee

et al. 2010

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Queens of the honey bee, Apis mellifera (L.), exhibit extreme polyandry, mating with up to forty-five different males (drones). This increases the genetic diversity of their colonies and consequently their fitness. After copulation, drones leave a mating sign in the genital opening of the queen which has been shown to promote additional mating of the queen. On one hand, this signing behavior is beneficial for the drone because it increases the genetic diversity of the resulting colony. On the other hand, it decreases the proportion of the drone's personal offspring among colony members which is detrimental to the drone. We analyze the adaptiveness and evolutionary stability of this drone's behavior with a game-theoretical model. We find that theoretically both the strategy of leaving a mating sign and the strategy of not leaving a mating sign can be evolutionary stable, depending on natural parameters. However, for most scenarios, including all biologically plausible ones, based on empirical data the signing strategy is not favored. We conclude that leaving a sign is not in the interest of the drone unless it serves biological functions other than increasing subsequent queen mating chances.

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A scientific note on the mating frequency of Apis dorsata

Cited by 52 publications

References 8 publications

Paternity skew in seven species of honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)

Paternity skew in seven species of honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)

Genetic Diversity and Disease Resistance in Leaf-Cutting Ant Societies

A Game Theoretical Analysis of the Mating Sign Behavior in the Honey Bee

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