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Males are here to stay: fertilization enhances viable egg production by clonal queens of the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata)

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Abstract

Evolution of reproduction strategies is affected by both phylogenetic and physiological constraints. Although clonality may benefit females, it may not be selected if a male contribution is necessary to start egg laying and embryo development. In little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata, sexual populations employ a typical Hymenopteran system of reproduction. In clonal populations, however, queens and males are produced with only maternal and paternal genomes, respectively, whereas sterile workers are produced sexually. Although this system requires both sexes for worker production, previous work has shown that workers may also be produced clonally by the queens. If so, why are males maintained in this species? Our data suggest that fertilization is necessary to increase the hatching rate of eggs. Although clonal queens can indeed produce both workers and queens without mating, the hatching rate is far below the level necessary to maintain functional colonies. On the other hand, virgin queens from populations exhibiting the original Hymenopteran reproduction system also show low hatching rates, but produce only haploid male eggs. Reasons for the existence of W. auropunctata males have been disputed. However, our data suggest that physiological constraints, such as the requirement for insemination, must be considered in regard to evolution of reproduction systems, in addition to ecological data and theoretical considerations of fitness.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ms. T. Vo, Dr. C. Vanderwoude, and Ms. M Montgomery for the help with field collections. In addition, we thank Prof. T. Miura, Dr. K. Ogawa, Dr. Hi. Miyakawa, and Dr. Mochizuki whose work helped us with embryo staining and confocal microscopy. We especially thank Dr. Steven D. Aird for the editing of our manuscript. This study was supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Research Fellowship for young scientists (MO) and also by funding from Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and a JSPS Kakenhi grant (13058556, to ASM).

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  1. Ecology and Evolution Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan

    Misato O. Miyakawa & Alexander S. Mikheyev

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  1. Misato O. Miyakawa
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  2. Alexander S. Mikheyev
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Correspondence to Misato O. Miyakawa.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Miyakawa, M.O., Mikheyev, A.S. Males are here to stay: fertilization enhances viable egg production by clonal queens of the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata). Sci Nat 102, 15 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-015-1265-8

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