Skip to main content
Log in

Environmental influences on male production and social structure inHalictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Insectes Sociaux Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Several years' observations of population of a primitively social halictine bee,Halictus rubicundus, revealed the following: (1) there is a correlation between ambient temperatures during the spring provisioning phase and the sex ratio of the resulting brood, such that warmer temperatures are associated with an increase in male bias; (2) over the course of the season, the degree of male bias of eggs laid appears to correspond with photoperiod; and (3) increasing male bias in the first brood is associated with decreasing proportions of social colonies formed in the population, and this effect may be accentuated by small population size. These phenomena suggest that abiotic environmental conditions at the time of brood production may profoundly influence the demography of this population, and that the demography in turn determines the degree to which sociality is expressed. These findings are related to hypotheses dealing with caste determination in temperate halictine bees, viewed in the context of the evolution and maintenance of sociality, and it is proposed that these phenomena reveal a mechanism by which social behavior (the occurrence of a “worker” caste, in particular) is facultatively “fine-tuned” to suit the characteristics of the environment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abrams, J. and G. C. Eickwort, 1980. Biology of the communal sweat beeAgapostemon virescens (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) in New York state.Search. Agr. 1:1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomsma, J. J., 1991. Adaptive colony sex ratios in primitively eusocial bees.Trends Ecol. Evol. 6:92–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breed, M. D., 1975. Life cycle and behavior of a primitively social bee,Lasioglossum rohweri (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).J. Kans. Ent. Soc. 48:64–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamm, D. R., 1974. Effects of temperature, day length, and number of adults on the sizes of cells and offspring in a primitively social bee (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).J. Kans. Ent. Soc. 47:8–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knerer, G., 1987. Photoperiod as cue for voltinism and caste regulation in halictine bees. In:Chemistry and biology of social insects (J. Eder and H. Rembold, eds.), Verlag J. Peperny, Munich, p. 305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knerer, G. and C. Plateaux-Quénu, 1967. Sur la production de mâles chez les Halictinae (Insectes, Hymenoptères) sociaux.C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 264:1096–1099.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knerer, G. and C. Plateaux-Quénu, 1970. The life cycle and social level ofEvylaeus nigripes (Hymenoptera: Halictinae), a Mediterranean halictine bee.Can. Ent. 102:185–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michener, C. D. and A. Wille, 1961. The bionomics of a primitively social bee,Lasioglossum inconspicuum.Univ. Kans. Sci. Bull. 42:1123–1202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, U. G., 1991. Haplodiploidy and the evolution of facultative sex ratios in a primitively eusocial bee.Science 254:442–444.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ordway, E., 1966. The bionomics ofAugochlorella striata andA. persimilis in eastern Kansas (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).J. Kans. Ent. Soc. 39:270–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oster, G. F. and E. O. Wilson, 1978.Caste and ecology in the social insects. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Packer, L., 1986. The social organisation ofHalictus ligatus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) in southern Ontario.Can. J. Zool. 64:2317–2324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Packer, L., 1990. Solitary and eusocial nests in a population ofAugochlorella striata (Provancher) (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) at the northern edge of its range.Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 27:339–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Packer, L., V. Jessome, C. Lockerbie and B. Sampson, 1989. The phenology and social biology of four sweat bees in a marginal environment: Cape Breton Island.Can. J. Zool. 67:2871–2877.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, R. B., 1969. Biology of the bee genusAgapostemon (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).Univ. Kans. Sci. Bull. 48:689–719.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakagami, S. F. and K. Hayashida, 1968. Bionomics and sociology of the summer matrifial phase in the social halictine bee,Lasioglossum duplex.J. Fac. Sci. Hokkaido Univ. Ser. VI, Zool. 16:413–513.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakagami, S. F. and M. Munakata, 1972. Distribution and bionomics of a transpalaearctic eusocial halictine bee,Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) calceatum, in northern Japan, with reference to its solitary life cycle at high altitude.J. Fac. Sci. Hokkaido Univ. Ser. VI, Zool. 18:411–437.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seger, J., 1983. Partial bivoltinism may cause alternating sex-ratio biases that favour eusociality.Nature 301:59–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seger, J. and H. J. Brockmann, 1987. What is bet-hedging?Oxford Surveys in Evol. Biol. 4:182–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki, T., 1981. Effect of photoperiod on male egg production by foundresses ofPolistes chinensis antennalis Pérez (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).Jap. J. Ecol. 31:347–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki, T., 1982. Cessation and resumption of laying of female-producing eggs by foundresses of a Polistine waspPolistes chinensis antennalis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) under experimental conditions.Kontyû 50:652–655.

    Google Scholar 

  • West-Eberhard, M. J., 1988. Phenotypic plasticity and “genetic” theories of insect sociality. In:Evolution of social behavior and integrative levels. The T. C. Schneirla Conference Series, Vol. 3. (G. Greenberg and E. Tobach, eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., New Jersey, pp. 123–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanega, D., 1988. Social plasticity and early-diapausing females in a primitively social bee.Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA) 85:4374–4377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanega, D., 1989. Caste determination and differential diapause within the first brood ofHalictus rubicundus in New York (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 24:97–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanega, D., 1990. Philopatry and nest founding in a primitively social bee,Halictus rubicundus.Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 27:37–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanega, D., 1992. Does mating determine caste in sweat bees? (Hymenoptera: Halictidae).J. Kans. Ent. Soc. 65:231–237.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yanega, D. Environmental influences on male production and social structure inHalictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Ins. Soc 40, 169–180 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01240705

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01240705

Key words

Navigation