Social polymorphism in the Australian small carpenter bee, Ceratina (Neoceratina) australensis

Rehan, Sandra M.; Richards, Miriam H.; Schwarz, Michael P.

doi:10.1007/s00040-010-0097-y

Cited by 47 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…This guarding behavior is found in all the studied species of Ceratina bees (Rehan et al. ). In addition, the guarding behavior is not only a passive strategy in Ceratina bees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Major benefits of guarding behavior in subsocial bees: implications for social evolution

Mikát

Černá

Straka

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Parental care is a behavior that increases the growth and survival of offspring, often at a cost to the parents' own survival and/or future reproduction. In this study, we focused on nest guarding, which is one of the most important types of extended parental care; we studied this behavior in two solitary bee species of the genus Ceratina with social ancestors. We performed the experiment of removing the laying female, who usually guards the nest after completing its provisioning, to test the effects of nest guarding on the offspring survival and nest fate. By dissecting natural nests, we found that Ceratina cucurbitina females always guarded their offspring until the offspring reached adulthood. In addition, the females of this species were able to crawl across the nest partitions and inspect the offspring in the brood cells. In contrast, several Ceratina chalybea females guarded their nests until the offspring reached adulthood, but others closed the nest entrance with a plug and deserted the nest. Nests with a low number of provisioned cells were more likely to be plugged and abandoned than nests with a higher number of cells. The female removal experiment had a significantly negative effect on offspring survival in both species. These nests frequently failed due to the attacks of natural enemies (e.g., ants, chalcidoid wasps, and other competing Ceratina bees). Increased offspring survival is the most important benefit of the guarding strategy. The abandonment of a potentially unsuccessful brood might constitute a benefit of the nest plugging behavior. The facultative nest desertion strategy is a derived behavior in the studied bees and constitutes an example of an evolutionary reduction in the extent of parental care.

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“…This guarding behavior is found in all the studied species of Ceratina bees (Rehan et al. ). In addition, the guarding behavior is not only a passive strategy in Ceratina bees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Major benefits of guarding behavior in subsocial bees: implications for social evolution

Mikát

Černá

Straka

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Previous studies have reported an AT bias of 74% for the same barcoding region as in our study (Groom et al 2014a;Shell and Rehan 2016), and our Ceratina haplotypes had an AT bias of 78%. The number of generations was determined as two per year based on nest contents data from the Victorian and South Australian sites (Dew and Rehan, unpublished data), which also corresponds to detailed studies on the Queensland population (Rehan et al 2010b(Rehan et al , 2011(Rehan et al , 2014.…”

Section: Historical Demographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ceratina australensis has become a model species for understanding simple forms of sociality where both solitary and social forms remain in sympatry (e.g. Rehan et al 2010bRehan et al , 2011Rehan et al , 2014. Solitary nests comprise about eighty-five percent of the population and are founded by females that disperse from their natal nests (Rehan et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography and demography of an Australian native bee Ceratina australensis (Hymenoptera, Apidae) since the last glacial maximum

Dew¹,

Rehan²,

Schwarz³

2016

JHR

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The small carpenter bees, genus Ceratina, are highly diverse, globally distributed, and comprise the sole genus in the tribe Ceratinini. Despite the diversity of the subgenus Neoceratina in the Oriental and IndoMalayan region, Ceratina (Neoceratina) australensis is the only ceratinine species in Australia. We examine the biogeography and demography of C. australensis using haplotype variation at 677 bp of the barcoding region of COI for specimens sampled from four populations within Australia, across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. There is geographic population structure in haplotypes, suggesting an origin in the northeastern populations, spreading to southern Australia. Bayesian Skyline Plot analyses indicate that population size began to increase approximately 18,000 years ago, roughly corresponding to the end of the last glacial maximum. Population expansion then began to plateau approximately 6,000 years ago, which may correspond to a slowing or plateauing in global temperatures for the current interglacial period. The distribution of C. australensis covers a surprisingly wide range of habitats, ranging from wet subtropical forests though semi-arid scrub to southern temperate coastal dunes. The ability of small carpenter bees to occupy diverse habitats in ever changing climates makes them a key species for understanding native bee diversity and response to climate change.

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“…The most commonly used parameter of size in aculeate Hymenoptera is the head width (Stark, ; Strohm & Linsenmair, ; Roulston & Cane, ; Bosch & Vicens, ; Grüter et al ., ; Dew et al ., ). Body mass and head width are also correlated in Ceratina bees (Rehan & Richards, ; Rehan et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Albeit the temperate Ceratina usually have a semelparous strategy, facultative iteroparity is known. Within‐nest iteroparity relates to the social nesting (Rehan et al ., , , ) and is present mostly in tropical or subtropical species (Rehan et al ., , , ). Facultative serial nesting is present in the European species, Ceratina chalybea (Mikát et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal investment in a bee species with facultative nest guarding and males heavier than females

Mikát

Benda

Straka

2019

Ecological Entomology

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1. Maternal investment can be influenced by several factors, especially maternal quality and possibilities for future reproduction. Mass provisioning Hymenoptera are an excellent group for measuring maternal investment because mothers distribute food sources to each brood cell for each offspring separately. Generally in aculeate Hymenoptera, larger females produce larger offspring and invest more in female offspring than in male offspring. 2. This study investigated patterns of maternal investment in Ceratina chalcites, which has an uncommon type of sexual size dimorphism in Hymenoptera: on average, males are heavier than females. It was found that larger females produce a significantly higher proportion of male offspring, as males are the costlier sex in this species. 3. Facultative nest guarding by females was observed. Females can guard offspring until adulthood, as is typical for bees of genus Ceratina (34.43% of nests); however, in the majority of cases (65.56% of nests), females plug and abandon the nest. Significant differences were found in the amount of investment between guarded and unguarded nests. Guarded nests had a greater number of provisioned brood cells and a higher proportion of male offspring. It is suggested that mothers have two facultative strategies – either she makes a large investment in the offspring of one nest or she abandons the first nest and carries out a second nesting elsewhere.

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Social polymorphism in the Australian small carpenter bee, Ceratina (Neoceratina) australensis

Cited by 47 publications

References 32 publications

Major benefits of guarding behavior in subsocial bees: implications for social evolution

Major benefits of guarding behavior in subsocial bees: implications for social evolution

Biogeography and demography of an Australian native bee Ceratina australensis (Hymenoptera, Apidae) since the last glacial maximum

Maternal investment in a bee species with facultative nest guarding and males heavier than females

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