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Emergence of cooperation and division of labor in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata.

ABSTRACT: In most primitively eusocial wasps new nests are initiated by a single female or by small groups of females. To study the emergence of division of labor (DOL) among the nest foundresses and to determine its possible effect on nest productivity we maintained newly eclosed females of Ropalidia marginata in small boxes with one, two, or three nestmate wasps of the same age per box. Only one wasp developed her ovaries and laid eggs in each box, while the other wasp(s) built the nest, brought food, and fed larvae, demonstrating the spontaneous emergence of reproductive DOL in the presence of more than one wasp. In nests with three wasps there was also a strong negative correlation between intranidal and extranidal work performed by the two nonreproductive workers, suggesting the spontaneous emergence of nonreproductive DOL; such nonreproductive DOL was absent in nests with two wasps. Both reproductive and nonreproductive DOL were modulated by dominance behavior (DB). In nests with two wasps the egg layer showed significantly more DB than the non-egg layer before nest initiation; in nests with three wasps queens showed significantly more DB than intranidal workers, which in turn showed significantly more DB than extranidal workers. Productivities of nests (as measured by total brood on the day of eclosion of the first adult) initiated by one or two wasps were not different from each other but were significantly lower than that of three wasps. Thus, nonreproductive DOL, and not merely reproductive DOL, is necessary for increase in productivity.

SUBMITTER: Brahma A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5789922 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Polistes paper wasps are models for understanding conditions that may have characterized the origin of worker and queen castes and, therefore, the origin of paper wasp sociality. Polistes is "primitively eusocial" by virtue of having context-dependent caste determination and no morphological differences between castes. Even so, Polistes colonies have a temporal pattern in which most female larvae reared by the foundress become workers, and most reared by workers become future-reproductive gynes. This pattern is hypothesized to reflect development onto two pathways, which may utilize mechanisms that regulate diapause in other insects. Using expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for Polistes metricus we selected candidate genes differentially expressed in other insects in three categories: 1) diapause vs. non-diapause phenotypes and/or worker vs. queen differentiation, 2) behavioral subcastes of worker honey bees, and 3) no a priori expectation of a role in worker/gyne development. We also used a non-targeted proteomics screen to test for peptide/protein abundance differences that could reflect larval developmental divergence. We found that foundress-reared larvae (putative worker-destined) and worker-reared larvae (putative gyne-destined) differed in quantitative expression of sixteen genes, twelve of which were associated with caste and/or diapause in other insects, and they also differed in abundance of nine peptides/proteins. Some differentially-expressed genes are involved in diapause regulation in other insects, and other differentially-expressed genes and proteins are involved in the insulin signaling pathway, nutrient metabolism, and caste determination in highly social bees. Differential expression of a gene and a peptide encoding hexameric storage proteins is especially noteworthy. Although not conclusive, our results support hypotheses of 1) larval developmental pathway divergence that can lead to caste bias in adults and 2) nutritional differences as the foundation of the pathway divergence. Finally, the differential expression in Polistes larvae of genes and proteins also differentially expressed during queen vs. worker caste development in honey bees may indicate that regulatory mechanisms of caste outcomes share similarities between primitively eusocial and advanced eusocial Hymenoptera.

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Emergence of cooperation and division of labor in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata.

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