Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

The American Naturalist

Volume

116

Issue

3

Publication Date

9-1-1980

First Page

311

Last Page

323

Abstract

In eusocial Hymenoptera with monogynous colonies and singly inseminated queens, workers are related to new queens (their sisters) by b = ¾ and to new males (their brothers) by b = ¼, whereas the mother queen is related to both by b = ½ (Hamilton 1964, 1972), where b is the proportion of genes identical by descent (see Crozier 1970). Trivers and Hare (1976) argued from this and Fisher's (1958) sex ratio theory that selection on workers will favor more investment of resources in new queens than in males, since the .queens are worth more genetically to them, while selection on mother queens will favor equal investment in both sexes. Thus there will be a conflict of interests between queens and their workers. If the workers "win," the equilibrium investment ratio will be 3: 1, since at this ratio the mating success of a male is three times that of a female, exactly cancelling out the workers' greater relatedness to their sisters.

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