Colony dynamics in a primitively eusocial halictine beeLasioglossum (Dialictus) zephyrum (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Abstract

Proximate control of colony dynamics was studied in the primitively eusocial halictine beeLasioglossum (Dialictus) zephyrum using allozyme markers. The results indicate that workers produce on average 15% of the male brood (range=0–50%) in small laboratory colonies made up of unrelated, single-generation, uninseminated females. This proportion is not influenced by colony size, but is influenced by the relative size of the queen. Large queens are more successful in dominating their workers than are small queens, the queen being defined as the female that is the mother of most of the brood produced in the colony. Older and larger females tend to become queens. Thus, while small differences in age (up to 4 days) influence which female becomes a queen, her ability to control her workers is primarily influenced by her relative size. The proportion of reproduction that is co-opted by the queen is negatively correlated with colony reproductivity (the number of males/day/female). Colony reproductivity is also negatively correlated with the standard deviation in size among females.