KIN RECOGNITION BY MALES OF Vespula germanica (HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE): EFFECT OF NESTMATESHIP AND DENSITY

ANGELETTI BÁRBARA; MARTINEZ ANDRES S.; MATTIACCI ANALIA; MASCIOCCHI MAITÉ; CORLEY JUAN CARLOS

Montevideo

Congreso; II Reunión Biología del Comportamiento del Cono Sur; 2019

Universidad de la República Montevideo Uruguay

Inbreeding can have negative consequences on population viability because of the reduced fitness of the progeny. In general, most species have developed mechanisms to minimize inbreeding such as dispersal and kin avoidance strategies. In the eusocial Hymenoptera, related individuals typically share a common nest and have relatively short mating periods, which could lead to inbreeding; and because of their single?locus complementary sex determination system, may result in infertile triploid progeny. Vespula germanica, is an eusocial wasp that has invaded many parts of the world, despite likely facing a reduced genetic pool during the arrival phases. We ask whether male wasps display specific aggregation behavior that favors genetic diversity. The high genetic diversity in male aggregations is crucial to avoid inbreeding because the high numbers of individuals in aggregations could decrease the probabilities of mating with relatives. Our aim was investigated the effects of relatedness and density on the aggregation behavior of V. germanica drones. Through laboratory bioassays in a "Peterson" olfactometer, we evaluate the behavior of drones towards different densities of individuals (2, 6 and 10 drones), related and unrelated. We show that drones avoid aggregating with their nestmates at all densities while non-nestmates are avoided only at high densities. This suggests that lek genetic diversity and density could be regulated through drone behavior and in the long run minimize inbreeding, thus favoring invasion success.