Multiple mating by both sexes is common among sexually reproducing animals.Small hive beetles(SHB),Aethina tumida,are parasites of bee nests endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and have become a widespread invasive species....Multiple mating by both sexes is common among sexually reproducing animals.Small hive beetles(SHB),Aethina tumida,are parasites of bee nests endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and have become a widespread invasive species.Despite the considerable economic damages they can cause,their basic biology remains poorly understood.Here we show that male and female small hive beetles can mate multiple times,suggesting that costs for mating are low in this species.In an invasive A.tumida population in the United States,a combination of laboratory experiments for males and paternity analysis with eight polymorphic DNA microsatellite markers for field-caught females were used to estimate the number of mating by both sexes.The data show that females and males can mate multiple times—females mated with up to eight males,whereas males mated with at least seven females.The results also showed that A.tumida displayed a skewed paternity,although this was not consistent among the tested females.Thus,first or last male advantage seem to be unlikely in A.tumida.Our observations that individuals of both sexes of A.tumida can mate multiple times opens new research avenues for examining drivers of multiple mating and determining the role it may play in promoting biological invasions.展开更多
基金granted by the Beatrice-Ederer Weber Foundation(P.N.)the Swiss Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students(A.P.)+4 种基金the Vinetum Foundation(P.N)the Swiss National Science Foundation(310030_204479,PN.)the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station(G.R.W)the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Multi-state Hatch project NC1173(G.R.W)the USDA ARS Cooperative Agreement 6066-21000-001-02-S(G.R.W).
文摘Multiple mating by both sexes is common among sexually reproducing animals.Small hive beetles(SHB),Aethina tumida,are parasites of bee nests endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and have become a widespread invasive species.Despite the considerable economic damages they can cause,their basic biology remains poorly understood.Here we show that male and female small hive beetles can mate multiple times,suggesting that costs for mating are low in this species.In an invasive A.tumida population in the United States,a combination of laboratory experiments for males and paternity analysis with eight polymorphic DNA microsatellite markers for field-caught females were used to estimate the number of mating by both sexes.The data show that females and males can mate multiple times—females mated with up to eight males,whereas males mated with at least seven females.The results also showed that A.tumida displayed a skewed paternity,although this was not consistent among the tested females.Thus,first or last male advantage seem to be unlikely in A.tumida.Our observations that individuals of both sexes of A.tumida can mate multiple times opens new research avenues for examining drivers of multiple mating and determining the role it may play in promoting biological invasions.
