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Diploid males, diploid sperm production, and triploid females in the ant Tapinoma erraticum

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Abstract

Under complementary sex determination (CSD), females of Hymenoptera arise from diploid, fertilized eggs and males from haploid, unfertilized eggs. Incidentally, fertilized eggs that inherit two identical alleles at the CSD locus will develop into diploid males. Diploid males are usually unviable or sterile. In a few species, however, they produce diploid sperm and father a triploid female progeny. Diploid males have been reported in a number of social Hymenoptera, but the occurrence of triploid females has hardly ever been documented. Here, we report the presence of triploid females, diploid males, and diploid sperm (produced by diploid males and stored in queen spermathecae) in the ant Tapinoma erraticum. Moreover, we show variations in the frequency of triploids among female castes: Triploid females are more frequent among workers than virgin queens; they are absent among mated, reproductive queens. The frequency of triploid workers also varies between populations and between nests within populations.

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Acknowledgments

LC thanks N. Thurin, A. Bernadou, and A. Lenoir for their help in collecting samples. Authors gratefully acknowledge M. Pearcy for his critical reading of the manuscript and fruitful suggestions. We thank three anonymous referees for their helpful remarks on a previous version of the manuscript. Financial support was provided by the Belgian “Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l’Industrie et l’Agriculture” (research fellowship to LC), the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research through personal (research director) and grants (to SA).

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  1. Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 160/12 50, av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Laurent Cournault & Serge Aron

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  1. Laurent Cournault
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  2. Serge Aron
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Correspondence to Laurent Cournault.

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Cournault, L., Aron, S. Diploid males, diploid sperm production, and triploid females in the ant Tapinoma erraticum . Naturwissenschaften 96, 1393–1400 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0590-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-009-0590-1

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