Abstract
The bumblebee Bombus terrestris is not only an effective pollinator, but also a potential invasive alien species outside its native range. Recently, nearly 30% of queens of the Japanese native species Bombus hypocrita sapporoensis and B. hypocrita hypocrita were estimated to copulate with B. terrestris males in the field, suggesting that indigenous bumblebees could be genetically deteriorated through hybrid production with the introduced species. In this study, we evaluated hybrid production between the introduced B. terrestris and the indigenous B. hypocrita sapporoensis under laboratory conditions. The hatching rate of eggs derived from interspecific matings was 0% and 8.6% depending on the direction of the cross, which was significantly lower than that from intraspecific matings of B. terrestris (76.9%) and B. hypocrita sapporoensis (78.9%). Genetic studies using microsatellite markers revealed that both haploid and diploid individuals were present in the egg stage, whereas all hatched larvae were haploid. In addition, histological studies revealed that eggs derived from interspecific matings terminated development 2 days after oviposition. These results strongly suggested that eggs derived from interspecific matings are inviable due to post-mating isolation mechanisms. Mass release of exotic pollinators could cause serious population declines of native bumblebee species.
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Acknowledgments
We sincerely thank the members of the Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Gifu University, and the staff of the Department of Bee Pollination, Bumblebee Section, Api Company Ltd., for their help in keeping bumblebees. We thank Dr. M. Ono for helpful discussion and Dr. K. Yamamoto for technical advice on our histological studies. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Project for Sophistication of Study for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries entitled “Development of Control Methods against Ecological Risks of Commercial Bumblebees for Pollination” (2005–2007, No. 1701, Chief K. Goka).
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Kanbe, Y., Okada, I., Yoneda, M. et al. Interspecific mating of the introduced bumblebee Bombus terrestris and the native Japanese bumblebee Bombus hypocrita sapporoensis results in inviable hybrids. Naturwissenschaften 95, 1003–1008 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0415-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0415-7