La fonction inhibitrice des reines de la fourmiPlagiolepis pygmaea Latr.: Role des pheromones

Passera, Luc

doi:10.1007/bf02223665

Cited by 43 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Two independent components (aggressive ability and information about fertility) seem essential to ensure an evolutionarily stable regulation of sterility. Reproductive di¡erentiation based on behavioural interactions presumably corresponds to the ancestral condition in social Hymenoptera, but queens in£uence the egg-laying activity of workers by olfactory means in many species (Passera 1980;Fletcher & Ross 1985;Bourke & Franks 1995;Seeley 1985;Vargo 1998). Our data on fertility cues suggest an origin for the evolution of this pheromonal signalling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cuticular hydrocarbons correlated with reproductive status in a queenless ant

Peeters

Monnin

Malosse

1999

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

181

102

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Reproductive division of labour is regulated behaviourally in social insects lacking morphologically specialized castes. The directional nature of dominance interactions shows that recognition occurs, but little is known about its basis. In the queenless ant Dinoponera quadriceps, the top worker in the hierarchy (`alpha') mates and produces o¡spring in each colony, while other workers remain virgin. Dominant ants frequently rub one antenna of subordinates against their own cuticle, and alpha and infertile nest-mates consistently di¡er in their relative proportions of the cuticular hydrocarbon 9-hentriacontene (9-C 31 ). The second-ranking`beta' occasionally lays unfertilized eggs and we show that she has less 9-C 31 than the alpha but more than infertile workers. To investigate further the link between 9-C 31 and ovarian activity, we experimentally removed alpha workers (n 11 individuals) and used solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography to measure changes in 9-C 31 on live beta workers which attained alpha status. The proportion of 9-C 31 on the replacement alpha increased signi¢cantly after six weeks, in parallel with her gain in fecundity. We discuss whether 9-C 31 provides honest information about egglaying ability, enabling ants to recognize the di¡erent classes of nest-mates involved in reproductive con£icts. Such fertility cues could reliably underpin the antagonistic interactions occurring in insect societies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cuticular hydrocarbons correlated with reproductive status in a queenless ant

Peeters

Monnin

Malosse

1999

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

181

102

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“…queens using pheromones to manipulate workers into sterility against their interests ['queen control' (Dejean and Passera, 1974;Passera, 1980;Hölldobler and Wilson, 1983)]. However, such dishonest queen control has been argued to be evolutionarily unstable because workers would be selected to ignore it and the ensuing arms race between queens and workers would decrease overall colony performance and be selected against (Keller and Nonacs, 1993).…”

Section: Honest Queen Signals and Dishonest Queen Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Honest and dishonest communication in social Hymenoptera

Heinze

d’Ettorre

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SummaryCommunication in social insects usually serves the good of the whole society and thus increases the inclusive fitness of all individuals. Hence, cheating and dishonesty are not expected when nestmates are to be alarmed or recruited to food sources. However, kin selection predicts a conflict of interest among individuals about the partitioning of reproduction. Dishonest communication may then be advantageous. Workers usually do not lay eggs in the presence of a fertile queen, but in many species they do so when the queen is removed. This effect has been explained by manipulative, i.e. dishonest, queen control or honest fertility signalling. Numerous studies have documented qualitative and quantitative differences in the pheromone blends of reproductives and non-reproductives. We examine these data for signs of honest signalling, conflict and manipulation.

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“…Other factors such as brood pheromones play an important role as well in this species (19)(20)(21)(22)(23). Although there exists some evidence that queen pheromones affect reproduction in ant workers (24,25), it is difficult to understand how such a queen signal can be transmitted in large colonies to reach worker groups that do not have direct contact to the queen.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface hydrocarbons of queen eggs regulate worker reproduction in a social insect

Endler

Liebig

Schmitt

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

258

219

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A hitherto largely unresolved problem in behavioral biology is how workers are prevented from reproducing in large insect societies with high relatedness. Signals of the queen are assumed to inform the nestmates about her presence in the colony, which leads to indirect fitness benefits for workers. In the ant Camponotus floridanus, we found such a signal located on queen-laid eggs. In groups of workers that were regularly provided with queen-laid eggs, larvae, and cocoons, with larvae and cocoons alone, or with no brood, only in the groups with queen-laid eggs did workers not lay eggs. Thus, the eggs seem to inform the nestmates about the queen's presence, which induces workers to refrain from reproducing. The signal on queen-laid eggs is presumably the same that enables workers to distinguish between queen-and worker-laid eggs. Despite their viability, the latter are destroyed by workers when given a choice between both types. Queen-and worker-laid eggs differ in their surface hydrocarbons in a way similar to the way fertile queens differ from workers in the composition of their cuticular hydrocarbons. When we transferred hydrocarbons from the queen cuticle to worker-laid eggs, the destruction of those eggs was significantly mitigated. We conclude that queen-derived hydrocarbon labels inform workers about the presence of a fertile queen and thereby regulate worker reproduction.

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La fonction inhibitrice des reines de la fourmiPlagiolepis pygmaea Latr.: Role des pheromones

Cited by 43 publications

References 18 publications

Cuticular hydrocarbons correlated with reproductive status in a queenless ant

Cuticular hydrocarbons correlated with reproductive status in a queenless ant

Honest and dishonest communication in social Hymenoptera

Surface hydrocarbons of queen eggs regulate worker reproduction in a social insect

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