群居昆蟲（螞蟻,、蜜蜂和黃蜂）并不像人們經(jīng)常以為的那樣是完全不育的,，而是能產(chǎn)生它們自己的雄性后代,。然而，此前人們不知道工蜂能夠在其同一物種的其他群落中寄生生育后代,。大黃蜂就能做到這一點(diǎn),。該發(fā)現(xiàn)表明，這種行為是非常普遍的,，這也許可解釋為什么關(guān)于親緣選擇的演化理論雖然在其他方面是成功的,、但在解釋天然蜂群中的工蜂生殖分布時(shí)卻存在困難。
Social parasitism by male-producing reproductive workers in a eusocial insect
The evolution of extreme cooperation, as found in eusocial insects (those with a worker caste), is potentially undermined by selfish reproduction among group members. In some eusocial Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps), workers can produce male offspring from unfertilized eggs. Kin selection theory predicts levels of worker reproduction as a function of the relatedness structure of the workers' natal colony and the colony-level costs of worker reproduction. However, the theory has been only partially successful in explaining levels of worker reproduction. Here we show that workers of a eusocial bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) enter unrelated, conspecific colonies in which they then produce adult male offspring, and that such socially parasitic workers reproduce earlier and are significantly more reproductive and aggressive than resident workers that reproduce within their own colonies. Explaining levels of worker reproduction, and hence the potential of worker selfishness to undermine the evolution of cooperation, will therefore require more than simply a consideration of the kin-selected interests of resident workers. It will also require knowledge of the full set of reproductive options available to workers, including intraspecific social parasitism.
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