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Ontogeny of division of labor in a facultatively eusocial sweat bee Megalopta genalis

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Abstract

In eusocial nests, colony task are divided among queens and workers, but how this division of labor develops is unknown for most species. We compared division of labor and aggressive behavior among queens and workers in the facultatively eusocial bee, Megalopta genalis, using nests with established queen-worker pairs and nests in which the incipient worker had recently emerged. We find that the majority of aggression is directed from queens toward workers in both incipient and established relationships. Established workers forage and perform trophallaxis as donors more frequently than queens, but both queens and workers perform trophallaxis as donors when workers are young. Queens spend significantly more time nest guarding than incipient and established workers, perhaps because older workers spend more time foraging and incipient workers spend significantly more time in cells than do queens. Our results show that the development of worker behavior involves dynamic temporal changes in task performance among queens and workers during the 10 days after worker emergence. During this establishment period, queens engage in maternal care by feeding their daughters, but are also aggressive toward them. This may be a mechanism by which queens coerce their daughters into becoming non-reproductive workers.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M. Lopez-Uribe, M. Reiser, R. Cossio, D. La Rosa, J. Medina Gutierrez, S. Bernal, D. Ramirez Garcia, T. Alvey for field assistance; T. Innocent for help in designing the ethogram; A. Lee, C. Sheridan, H. Denenberg, S. Dao, F. Choe, A. Bird, A. Espinosa, E. Anderson, R. Parks for help in scoring the videos; O. Acevedo, B. Jimenez, O. Arosemena, for logistical support. Research on BCI was conducted under A.N.A.M. permit # SEX/A-34-09. K.M.K was supported by funds from NSF DDIG-0808256, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), Smithsonian Institution, UCLA, AWIS, U.S. Dept. Ed. K.M.K and P.N. were supported by NSF grant IOS-0642085. W.T.W. and A.R.S. were supported by STRI and SENACYT grant COL-06-030.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Utah State University, 5305 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322-5305, USA

    K. M. Kapheim

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    T.-Y. Chan & P. Nonacs

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 6000, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    A. R. Smith

  4. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843, Balboa, Republic of Panama

    W. T. Wcislo

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  1. K. M. Kapheim
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  2. T.-Y. Chan
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  3. A. R. Smith
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  4. W. T. Wcislo
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  5. P. Nonacs
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Correspondence to K. M. Kapheim.

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Kapheim, K.M., Chan, TY., Smith, A.R. et al. Ontogeny of division of labor in a facultatively eusocial sweat bee Megalopta genalis . Insect. Soc. 63, 185–191 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-015-0454-y

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