Reproductive Interference in an Introduced Bumblebee: Polyandry may Mitigate Negative Reproductive Impact

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 59
• Main Authors: Tsuchida, Koji, Yamaguchi, Ayumi, Kanbe, Yuya, Goka, Koichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22-02-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal reproduction; Bombus; Bombus ignitus; Bumblebees; Colonies; Developmental stages; Egg production; Endangered & extinct species; Flowers & plants; Greenhouses; Growth regulators; hybrid inviability; hybrid production; Insecticides; Insects; Interference; Larval development; Mating; Native species; Parasites; Plant reproduction; Polyandry; Population number; Queens; reproductive interference; Review; Spraying; Workers (insect caste); Japan; hybrid production; reproductive interference; bumblebees; hybrid inviability
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects10020059

As a signature of reproductive interference (RI), we reviewed hybrid production in eusocial bumblebees in Japan, by comparing introduced
with native
in Honshu (main island of Japan) and with native
in Hokkaido (northern island of Japan). In this review, we present additional new data showing hybrid production between introduced
and native
in Honshu. Interspecific mating with introduced
disrupts the reproduction of native
and
, which belong to the same subgenus of
, through inviable egg production. This interference appears to facilitate species replacement on Hokkaido. Simultaneously, the mating frequencies for queens of
have increased, suggesting that polyandry might evolve in response to the extent of RI between
and
. To suppress the population size of
in Hokkaido, two methods have been proposed: the mass release of
males to induce RI between the two species and the spraying of insecticides against foraging workers so that the workers will carry the insecticides back to their colonies, killing the immature bees within the colonies. A candidate insecticide type is insect growth regulator, which may disrupt larval development without any apparent effect on foraging workers.