Giehr, Julia and Wallner, Jennifer and Krueger, Theresa and Heinze, Juergen (2020) Body size and sperm quality in queen- And worker-produced ant males. JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 33 (6). pp. 842-849. ISSN 1010-061X, 1420-9101
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Workers of many species of social Hymenoptera have functional ovaries and are capable of laying haploid, unfertilized eggs, at least in the absence of a queen. Except for honeybees, it remains largely unknown whether worker-produced males have the same quality as queen-produced males and whether workers benefit in direct fitness by producing their sons. Previous studies in the monogynous ant Temnothorax crassispinus revealed that a high proportion of males in natural and laboratory colonies are worker offspring. Here, we compare longevity, body size, sperm length and sperm viability between queen- and worker-produced males. We either split queenright colonies into queenright and queenless halves or removed the queen from a fraction of the queenright colonies and then examined the newly produced males. Male quality traits varied considerably among colonies but differed only slightly between queen- and worker-produced males. Worker-produced males outnumbered queen-produced males and also had a longer lifespan, but under certain rearing conditions sperm from queen-produced males had a higher viability.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | APIS-MELLIFERA COLONIES; WESTERN HARVESTER ANT; SEXUAL SELECTION; SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR; REPRODUCTION; EVOLUTION; HYMENOPTERA; COMPETITION; COST; HONEYBEE; ants; male quality; sperm quality; Temnothorax; worker reproduction |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Mar 2021 12:19 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Mar 2021 12:19 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/44488 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
