THE EVOLUTION OF WORKER STERILITY IN HONEY BEES: AN INVESTIGATION INTO A BEHAVIORAL MUTANT CAUSING FAILURE OF WORKER POLICING.

Normally, worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) only lay eggs when their colony is queenless. When a queen is present, worker egg-laying is controlled by mutual "policing" behavior in which any rare worker-laid eggs are eaten by other workers. However, an extremely rare behavioral phenotype arises in which workers develop functional ovaries and lay large numbers of eggs despite the presence of the queen. In this study, microsatellite analysis was used to determine the maternity of drones produced in such a colony under various conditions. One subfamily was found to account for about 90% of drone progeny, with the remainder being laid by other subfamilies or the queen. No evidence of queen policing was found. After a one-month period of extreme worker oviposition in spring, the colony studied reverted to normal behavior and showed no signs of worker oviposition. However, upon removal of the queen, workers commenced oviposition very quickly. Significantly, the subfamily that laid eggs when the queen was present did not contribute to the drone production when the colony was queenless. However, another subfamily contributed a disproportionately large number of drones. The frequency of worker oviposition appears to be determined by opposing selective forces. Individual bees benefit from personal reproduction, whereas other bees and the colony are disadvantaged by it. Thus a behavioral polymorphism can be maintained in the population in which some workers can escape worker policing, with balancing selection at the colony level to detect and eliminate these mutations. © 1998 The Society for the Study of Evolution.