TY - JOUR
T1 - Altruistic colony defense by menopausal female insects
AU - Uematsu, Keigo
AU - Kutsukake, Mayako
AU - Fukatsu, Takema
AU - Shimada, Masakazu
AU - Shibao, Harunobu
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a 21st Center of Excellence Program of the Research Center of Integrated Science at the University of Tokyo, financed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. K.U. was supported by a Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists. We thank K. Niijima for technical assistance in rearing ladybug larvae; A. Sedohara, K. Ohnuma, and M. Asashima for assistance with the frozen sectioning procedure; and T. Dixon and S. Dobata for comments on the manuscript.
PY - 2010/7/13
Y1 - 2010/7/13
N2 - Recent studies have suggested that an extended postreproductive life span, such as life after menopause in human females, will evolve when the indirect (kin-selected) fitness benefits from altruistic behavior are greater than the direct fitness benefits from continuing reproduction [1-4]. Under some conditions in which postreproductive altruism is more beneficial and/or continuing reproduction is more costly, the postreproductive life span can be shaped by natural selection [5, 6]. However, indirect fitness benefits during postreproductive survival have been documented mainly in intelligent mammals such as humans and cetaceans, in which elder females possess enhanced social knowledge through learning [7-10]. Here we show that postreproductive females of the gall-forming aphid Quadrartus yoshinomiyai (Nipponaphidini) can gain indirect fitness benefits through their altruistic colony defense. These females cease reproduction around the time of gall opening and defend the colony by sticking themselves to intruding predators with a waxy secretion that is accumulated in their body with aging. Our results suggest that the presence of an age-related trait for altruistic behavior promotes the evolution of postreproductive altruism in this social insect via kin selection under natural selection imposed by predators.
AB - Recent studies have suggested that an extended postreproductive life span, such as life after menopause in human females, will evolve when the indirect (kin-selected) fitness benefits from altruistic behavior are greater than the direct fitness benefits from continuing reproduction [1-4]. Under some conditions in which postreproductive altruism is more beneficial and/or continuing reproduction is more costly, the postreproductive life span can be shaped by natural selection [5, 6]. However, indirect fitness benefits during postreproductive survival have been documented mainly in intelligent mammals such as humans and cetaceans, in which elder females possess enhanced social knowledge through learning [7-10]. Here we show that postreproductive females of the gall-forming aphid Quadrartus yoshinomiyai (Nipponaphidini) can gain indirect fitness benefits through their altruistic colony defense. These females cease reproduction around the time of gall opening and defend the colony by sticking themselves to intruding predators with a waxy secretion that is accumulated in their body with aging. Our results suggest that the presence of an age-related trait for altruistic behavior promotes the evolution of postreproductive altruism in this social insect via kin selection under natural selection imposed by predators.
KW - EVO-ECOL
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955369627&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77955369627&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.057
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2010.04.057
M3 - Article
C2 - 20619817
AN - SCOPUS:77955369627
SN - 0960-9822
VL - 20
SP - 1182
EP - 1186
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
IS - 13
ER -