title: The trap of sex in social insects: from the female to the male perspective.
abstract: The phenotype of male Hymenoptera and the peculiar role of males has been neglected and greatly understudied, given the spectacular cooperative behavior of female social insects. In social insects there has been considerable progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms behind haplodiploid sex determination but, beyond that, very little is known concerning the neural, endocrine, and genetic correlates of sexual selection in males. An opportunity is being missed: the male phenotype in Hymenoptera is a natural experiment to compare the drives of natural versus sexual selection. In contrast to females, males do not work, they usually display far from the nest to gain mates, compete among rivals in nuptial flights or for a symbolic territory at leks, and engage in direct or ritualized conflicts. By comparing the available data on male paper wasps with studies on other social Hymenoptera, we summarize what we currently know about the physical, hormonal, neural and behavioral traits in a model system appropriate to examine current paradigms on sexual selection. Here we review male behavior in social Hymenoptera beyond sex stereotypes: the subtle role of "drones" in the colony, the lack of armaments and ornaments, the explosive mating crowds, the "endurance" race, the cognitive bases of the "choosy" male and his immune defense. Social insect males are not just simple-minded mating machines, they are shaped, constrained and perhaps trapped by sexual selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. Electronic address: laura.beani@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beani
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dessì-Fulgheri
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cappa
authors.affiliation: Departments of Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology and Entomology, Iowa State University, USA.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Male neuroendocrine system; Male social Hymenoptera; Polistes dominula; Sexual behavior; Sexual selection