Skip to main content
. 2003 Jul 18;3:15. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-3-15

Table 10.

Predictions about imprinting effects in haplodiploid social insects.

Behavior Expressed in Under condition(s) Action of patrigenes Action of matrigenes
Suppressing excess demands by female larvae (Table 5) Workers Any queen or mate number Less suppressive More suppressive

Suppressing excess demands by male larvae (Table 6) Workers Any queen or mate number More suppressive Less suppressive

Competition among coeval queens or foundresses (Table 2) Reproductive females One queen, singly mated Less competitive More competitive
One queen, mated more than twice More competitive Less competitive
Multiple related queens, singly mated Usually less competitive Usually more competitive
Multiple unrelated queens, singly mated No imprinting No imprinting

Sex ratio: e.g. killing male larvae, harassing male adults (Table 3) Workers Any queen or mate number Favor females Favor males
Queens Any queen or mate number No imprinting No imprinting

Helping queen(s) or leaving to reproduce (Table 4) Females One queen, singly mated, benefits not sex-biased No imprinting No imprinting
One queen, singly mated, benefits female biased More altruistic More selfish
One queen, singly mated, benefits male biased More selfish More altruistic
One queen, singly mated, split sex ratios More altruistic in female-biased; more selfish in male-biased More selfish in female-biased; more altruistic in male-biased
One queen, more than 2 mates More selfish More altruistic
Multiple queens, benefits not sex-biased More selfish More altruistic
Workers (Table 5) All Aid selfishness Force helping

Adding a daughter queen, or replacing old queen with daughter queen (Table 2 or 4) Daughter queen to be added One queen, singly mated No imprinting or less in favor No imprinting or more in favor
One queen, more than 2 mates More in favor Less in favor
Many related queens Depends on specific conditions Depends on specific conditions
Old queen Any queen or mate number No imprinting No imprinting
Workers (Table 5) Any queen or mate number Favors daughter queens more Favors old queens more

Become a worker or a queen (Table 2 or 4) Female affected One queen, singly mated No imprinting or worker No imprinting or queen
One queen, more than 2 mates Queen Worker
Many related queens, new queens from single generation of old queens Usually queen Usually worker
Old queen Any queen or mate number No imprinting No imprinting
Workers (Table 5) Any queen or mate number Favors queen more Favors worker more

Division of colony between mother queen and daughter (Table 4) Daughter queen One queen, singly mated No sex ratio bias Unimprinted Unimprinted
Daughter queen One queen, multiply mated Favor self more Favor mother queen more
Mother queen Any mate number Unimprinted Unimprinted
Workers (Table 5) Any mate number Favor daughter queen more Favor old queen more

Excess food demands (Table 4) Female larvae One queen, singly mated, no sex bias No imprinting No imprinting
One queen, more than 2 mates More demanding Less demanding
Many queens Depends on queen number & relatedness Depends on queen number & relatedness

Laying of eggs in queenless colonies Workers One queen, singly mated Lay fewer eggs, help more Lay more eggs, help less
One queen, mated more than twice Lay more eggs, help less Lay fewer eggs, help more
Multiple related queens, singly mated Lay more eggs, help less Lay fewer eggs Help more,

Replacement of queen's male eggs by worker's male egg (Table 7) Replacing worker Any queen or mate number Lay male eggs Lay fewer eggs

Policing of worker male eggs in queenright colonies (Table 8) Other workers Any queen or mate number Less prone to police More prone to police

Queen killing to allow worker male production (Table 8) Workers other than the egg layer Any queen or mate number More prone to kill queen? Less prone to kill queen?

Colonymate discrimination Workers Neighboring colonies have related queen, unrelated queen mates Discriminate more Discriminate less
Most other structures No imprinting No imprinting

Patriline discrimination Workers One queen, multiply mated Discriminate more Discriminate less

Matriline discrimination Workers Multiple singly-mated related queens Discriminate more Discriminate less

When costs and benefits are said to be female biased, it means more female biased than the population sex ratio (f/m > F/M). Males are assumed to be queen produced unless otherwise noted.