Outbreeding and lack of temporal genetic structure in a drone congregation of the neotropical stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana

• Published in: Ecology and evolution Vol. 2; no. 6; pp. 1304 - 1311
• Main Authors: Mueller, Matthias Y., Moritz, Robin F.A., Kraus, F. Bernhard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2012; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Bees; Colonies; Complementary sex determination; Drones; Eusociality; Genetic diversity; Genetic markers; Genetic structure; Genetics; Inbreeding; inbreeding avoidance; Males; mating behavior; Meliponini; Microsatellites; Original Research; Outbreeding; Paternity; population genetics; Population number; Predation; Proximate causes; Scaptotrigona mexicana; stingless bees; microsatellites; stingless bees; population genetics; inbreeding avoidance; Complementary sex determination; mating behavior
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.203
• EISSN: 2045-7758

Drone aggregations are a widespread phenomenon in many stingless bee species (Meliponini), but the ultimate and proximate causes for their formation are still not well understood. One adaptive explanation for this phenomenon is the avoidance of inbreeding, which is especially detrimental for stingless bees due to the combined effects of the complementary sex‐determining system and the small effective population size caused by eusociality and monandry. We analyzed the temporal genetic dynamics of a drone aggregation of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana with microsatellite markers over a time window of four weeks. We estimated the drones of the aggregation to originate from a total of 55 colonies using sibship re‐construction. There was no detectable temporal genetic differentiation or sub‐structuring in the aggregation. Most important, we could exclude all colonies in close proximity of the aggregation as origin of the drones in the aggregation, implicating that they originate from more distant colonies. We conclude that the diverse genetic composition and the distant origin of the drones of the S. mexicana drone congregation provides an effective mechanism to avoid mating among close relatives.
Drone aggregations are a widespread phenomenon in many stingless bee species (Meliponini), but the ultimate and proximate causes for their formation are still not well understood. We analyzed the temporal genetic dynamics of a drone aggregation of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana with microsatellite markers over a time window of four weeks. This study highlights that the diverse genetic composition and the distant origin of the drones of the S. mexicana drone congregation provides an effective mechanism to avoid mating among close relatives.