title: Genetic reincarnation of workers as queens in the Eastern honeybee Apis cerana.
abstract: Thelytokous parthenogenesis, or the asexual production of female offspring, is rare in the animal kingdom, but relatively common in social Hymenoptera. However, in honeybees, it is only known to be ubiquitous in one subspecies of Apis mellifera, the Cape honeybee, A. mellifera capensis. Here we report the appearance of queen cells in two colonies of the Eastern honeybee Apis cerana that no longer contained a queen or queen-produced brood to rear queens from. A combination of microsatellite genotyping and the timing of the appearance of these individuals excluded the possibility that they had been laid by the original queen. Based on the genotypes of these individuals, thelytokous production by natal workers is the most parsimonious explanation for their existence. Thus, we present the first example of thelytoky in a honeybee outside A. mellifera. We discuss the evolutionary and ecological consequences of thelytoky in A. cerana, in particular the role thelytoky may play in the recent invasions by populations of this species.
authors: Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Holmes
authors: 1] Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China [2] Eastern Bee Research Institute of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Tan
authors: Eastern Bee Research Institute of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
authors: Z
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: B P
authors: BP
authors: Oldroyd
authors: Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Beekman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010312:Parthenogenesis / Q000235:genetics*