Abstract:Polyandry (multiple mating by females) is a central challenge for understanding the evolution of eusociality. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain its observed benefits in eusocial Hymenoptera, and one, the parasite-pathogen hypothesis, proposes that high genotypic variance among workers for disease resistance prevents catastrophic colony collapse. We tested the parasite-pathogen hypothesis in the polyandrous wasp Vespula shidai. We infected isolated workers with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauver… Show more
Set email alert for when this publication receives citations?
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.