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Local resource enhancement and sex ratios in a primitively social bee

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Abstract

'Queen-worker conflict'1 and 'local mate competition'2,3 have frequently been used to help explain female-biased sex ratios in the social Hymenoptera. In this report I show that neither of these theories is able to explain brood-size dependent sex ratios in an allodapine bee, Exoneura bicolor. Most nests of this species contain two or more related females, and reproductivity per female increases as a function of the number of individuals cooperating in joint nest use. I argue that 'local resource enhancement' may explain sex-ratio bias in this species and that similar bias may be expected in other presocial insects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083, Australia

    Michael P. Schwarz

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  1. Michael P. Schwarz
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Schwarz, M. Local resource enhancement and sex ratios in a primitively social bee. Nature 331, 346–348 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/331346a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/331346a0

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