Ancestral Monogamy Shows Kin Selection Is Key to the Evolution of Eusociality

Hughes, William O. H.; Oldroyd, Benjamin P.; Beekman, Madeleine; Ratnieks, Francis L. W.

doi:10.1126/science.1156108

Cited by 564 publications

(564 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

546

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, our model is in line with such work, producing simple predictions such as support for the hypothesis 12,25 that eusociality can evolve more easily in species with monandrous females. Comparative evidence suggests that all known clades of eusocial hymenopteran insects evolved from monandrous ancestors, even though several of them later evolved polyandry 9 . A negative relationship between promiscuity and the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds 8 likewise supports a role of monogamy in favouring the evolution of helping behaviour, although no birds are classified as eusocial.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the biological mechanisms by which this principle manifests itself during evolutionary transitions are still incompletely understood. The idea that haplodiploidy can facilitate this transition has suffered a decline [5][6][7] , recent data suggest a greater role for monogamy 8,9 , and a lively debate has ensued around the role kin selection has in the process 7,[10][11][12] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Monogamy and haplodiploidy act in synergy to promote the evolution of eusociality

Fromhage¹,

Kokko

2011

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In eusocial species, some individuals sacrifice their own reproduction for the benefit of others. The evolutionary transition towards eusociality may have been facilitated by ancestral species having a monogamous mating system (the monogamy hypothesis) or a haplodiploid genetic system (the haplodiploidy hypothesis), or it may have been entirely driven by other (ecological) factors. Here we show, using a model that describes the dynamics of insect colony foundation, growth and death, that monogamy and haplodiploidy facilitate the evolution of eusociality in a novel, mutually reinforcing way. our findings support the recently questioned importance of relatedness for the evolution of eusociality, and simultaneously highlight the importance of explicitly accounting for the ecological rules of colony foundation, growth and death in models of social evolution.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Monogamy and haplodiploidy act in synergy to promote the evolution of eusociality

Fromhage¹,

Kokko

2011

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Within each society, the number of reproductive individuals shapes its genetic diversity (Hughes et al 2008). Ants are among the most abundant and ubiquitous organisms in the world (Alonso 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Alpine ant’s behavioural polymorphism: monogyny with and without internest aggression in Tetramorium alpestre

Krapf

Russo

Arthofer

et al. 2017

Ethology Ecology & Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social structure influences animal societies on various levels (e.g., relatedness, behaviour). In ants, both the number of matings per queen and the number of queens per colony can vary strongly. While workers from both monogynous and polygynous colonies often fight fiercely, in supercolonies (an extreme form of polygyny comprising thousands of queens in spatially separated but interconnected nests), non-nestmates interact peacefully. Studies on social and behavioural polymorphism within ant species can help elucidate their influence on genetic diversity and behaviour and the factors triggering variation in social structure and behaviour. Here, we reveal a behavioural and social polymorphism comprising monogyny with and without internest aggression in Tetramorium alpestre sampled in Tyrol, Austria. The social polymorphism is based on genetic and behavioural evidence and contrasts with the supercolonial organisation known from another location in Austria (Carinthia), 150 km away. Microsatellite genotyping using eight polymorphic loci revealed monogyny-monandry and high intranest pairwise relatedness. Interestingly, various experimental one-on-one worker encounters revealed only occasional aggressive behaviour between monogynous colonies, and thus a behavioural polymorphism. Mantel tests revealed a significant negative correlation between spatial distance and relatedness, while worker behaviour was not correlated with relatedness or spatial distance. These results indicate that behaviour might be influenced by other factors – for example, the experience of workers, ecological, chemical, and/or genetic factors not characterised in this study. However, workers distinguished nestmates from non-nestmates also when aggression was lacking. We hypothesise an adaptive value of reduced aggression. We speculate that the non-aggressive and partly aggressive encounters observed represent different options in the social structure of T. alpestre, the non-aggressiveness possibly also promoting supercolony development. The social and behavioural polymorphisms observed offer opportunities to identify the factors triggering these changes and thus further explore the behavioural and social polymorphism of this ant species.

show abstract

“…To accommodate such high demands for viable sperm, queens possess specialized organs known as spermathecae allowing them to keep sperm alive den Boer et al, 2010den Boer et al, , 2009bHolman et al, 2011;Kronauer and Boomsma, 2007;Schlüns et al, 2005;Shuker and Simmons, 2014), and sophisticated mechanisms to use just a few sperm to fertilize each egg (den Boer et al, 2009a). These principles of diverging male and female life-spans and life-histories evolved early during eusocial evolution (Boomsma, 2007(Boomsma, , 2013Hughes et al, 2008), and later developed towards spectacular extremes in lineages with very large and long-lived colonies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%