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The frequency of arrhenotoky in the normally thelytokous Apis mellifera capensis worker and the Clone reproductive parasite

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Abstract

In most honey bees, unfertilized eggs develop into haploid males via arrhenotokous parthenogenesis. The Cape honey bee (Apis mellifera capensis) is different. Although mated queens always produce females sexually, if workers lay unfertilized eggs the eggs develop into diploid females via thelytokous parthenogenesis. Thelytoky in A. m. capensis has given rise to an entirely clonal lineage of reproductive parasites that infests colonies of their neighbouring subspecies A. m. scutellata. The switch from arrhenotoky to thelytokous worker reproduction is thought to be determined by a recessive allele at a single locus. However, it has recently been shown that this simple phenotype/genotype association may be more complex because individuals from the parasitic clonal lineage produce c.a. 15 % of eggs arrhenotokously and 85 % of eggs thelytokously. Here, we investigate the fate of these arrhenotokous eggs and show that they can develop into adult males. We further show that workers of the sexual A. m. capensis population produce far fewer arrhenotokous eggs. We discuss possible evolutionary explanations for this difference.

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Acknowledgments

This project was financially supported by Australian Research Council Grants DP0878924 and DP0985189.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences A12, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    F. Goudie, M. Beekman & B. P. Oldroyd

  2. Honey Bee Research Section, ARC-Plant Protection Research Institute, Private Bag X5017, Stellenbosch, 7599, South Africa

    M. H. Allsopp

  3. Laboratoire Evolution Génomes Spéciation, CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    M. Solignac

  4. University Paris Sud, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    M. Solignac

Authors
  1. F. Goudie
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  2. M. H. Allsopp
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  3. M. Solignac
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  4. M. Beekman
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  5. B. P. Oldroyd
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Correspondence to F. Goudie.

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Goudie, F., Allsopp, M.H., Solignac, M. et al. The frequency of arrhenotoky in the normally thelytokous Apis mellifera capensis worker and the Clone reproductive parasite. Insect. Soc. 62, 325–333 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-015-0401-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-015-0401-y

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