4/9/15 1 Social Insects Insect Ecology Social Insects • Sociality evolved multiple times in insects • Much of Earth’s fauna consists of social insects • They play major roles in entire ecosystems • Proliferation of ants and termites associated with change from solitary to social lifestyle Social Insects • Consistent trend: • Numerous forms of subsocial in numerous lineages – Aggregations TO – Parental care TO – Parental care & nesting TO – Communal nesting TO • Increasing division of labor and reproduction in fewer lineages TO • Primitively eusocial in fewer lineages TO • Advanced eusocial fewer lineages Subsocial • More widespread – 13 orders of insects – no reproductive division of labor
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4/9/15
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Social Insects
Insect Ecology
Social Insects
• Sociality evolved multiple times in insects
• Much of Earth’s fauna consists of social insects
• They play major roles in entire ecosystems
• Proliferation of ants and termites associated with change from solitary to social lifestyle
Social Insects
• Consistent trend: • Numerous forms of subsocial
in numerous lineages – Aggregations TO – Parental care TO – Parental care & nesting TO – Communal nesting TO
• Increasing division of labor and reproduction in fewer lineages TO
• Colony foundation by one or more females • Pheromones used to modify worker behavior • Ovarian development in late season workers • Queen may be driven from nest • Workers produce male offspring parthenogenetically
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Advanced eusocial Hymenoptera
• Many bees and some wasps, ants
• Females dimorphic • Specialization of
workers • Wasps
– Queen founds first brood of workers
– Subsequent generations include males, then reproductive females
Eusocial honeybees (Apidae)
• Colony develops and may found new colonies during summer
• Nest made of wax secreted by bees • Castes: queen (larger), worker (smaller), drone • Old workers: hive; Young workers: field
Extreme eusociality: ants (Formicidae)
• All ants are eusocial • Workers may be
polyphenic – Trophogenic – Feeding
• Predatory • Seed and grain
harvesters
Amblyopone are specialist predators of centipedes
Extreme eusociality: ants (Formicidae)
• All ants are eusocial • Workers may be
polyphenic – Trophogenic – Feeding
• Mutualists with plants • Honey dew specialists
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Extreme eusociality: ants (Formicidae)
• All ants are eusocial • Workers may be
polyphenic – Trophogenic – Feeding
• Fungus harvesters
Extreme eusociality: ants (Formicidae)
• All ants are eusocial • Workers may be
polyphenic – Trophogenic – Feeding
• Parasites (slave-makers & usurpers)
Polyerges Slave-maker
Formica Slave
A queen Polyergus slave-raiding ant attended to by a Formica worker. Parasitic queens such as Polyergus emit pheromones that are attractive to host ant workers
A queen Polyergus slave-raiding ant attended to by a Formica worker. Parasitic queens such as Polyergus emit pheromones that are attractive to host ant workers
Eusocial Isoptera
• What sex determination system do termites have?
• Uh-oh, ‘zup? • Perhaps something
about maximizing ‘B’ when feeding on wood?
• What else happens to wood-feeding insects in their population structure (remember the Normark paper)?
Eusocial Isoptera
• In what way does this caste determination structure differ from Hymenoptera?