Sperm mixing in the polyandrous leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior.

ABSTRACT: The insemination of queens by sperm from multiple males (polyandry) has evolved in a number of eusocial insect lineages despite the likely costs of the behavior. The selective advantages in terms of colony fitness must therefore also be significant and there is now good evidence that polyandry increases genetic variation among workers, thereby improving the efficiency of division of labor, resistance against disease, and diluting the impact of genetically incompatible matings. However, these advantages will only be maximized if the sperm of initially discrete ejaculates are mixed when stored in queen spermathecae and used for egg fertilization in a "fair raffle." Remarkably, however, very few studies have addressed the level of sperm mixing in social insects. Here we analyzed sperm use ove

SUBMITTER: Sturup M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4224532 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature