As new techniques utilizing molecular markers develop, opportunities abound to test assumptions about reproduction and relatedness in social species. Much of the published work on the behavioral ecology and evolution of social wasps rests on some key assumptions. One assumption is that there is an unusually high degree of relatedness among nestmates (higher than 0.5). Another assumption is that in the case of multiple foundress nests, the foundresses are sisters. Finally, females of primitively eusocial wasps such as the Polistinae are assumed to be singly mated. The use of molecular techniques such as allozyme gel electrophoresis and microsatellites have proven valuable in establishing relatedness among individuals within several taxa of social wasps, including several species of the polistine genus Mischocyttarus. Microsatellites have yet to be applied to Mischocyttarus mexicanus, a tropical species present in the southeast United States. A previous allozyme study reported relatedness values of female nestmates of M. mexicanus to be approximately 0.5. Because of the haplodiploid nature of the order Hymenoptera, this relatedness value can either be the result of multiple mating by queens, or polygyny, or both. By combining field observations and molecular analyses using microsatellites, I will address the following questions: What's the average mating number of females? Are cofoundresses usually sisters? How does the relatedness of the cofoundresses (and the nest as a whole) compare to the subpopulation? In addition, how often are cofoundresses (other than the queen) successful in producing progeny? Do extra-queen progeny become reproductives? 65 nests collected from several locations in Florida in January 2001 and summer 2001. Microsatellite primers are presently being screened to determine polymorphisms and the contents of spermathecae are being sequenced for evidence of multiply matings with different males.
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA