Experimental disruption of social structure reveals totipotency in the orchid bee, Euglossa dilemma

Eusociality has evolved multiple times across the insect phylogeny. Social
insects with greater levels of social complexity tend to exhibit
specialized castes with low levels of individual phenotypic plasticity. In
contrast, species with simple social groups may consist of totipotent
individuals that transition among behavioral and reproductive states.
However, recent work has shown that in simple social groups, there can
still be constraint on individual plasticity, caused by differences in
maternal nourishment or  social interaction. It is not well
understood how these constraints arise, ultimately leading to the
evolution of nonreproductive workers. Some species of orchid bees form
social groups of a dominant and 1-2 subordinate helpers where all
individuals are reproductive. Females can also disperse to start their own
nest as a solitary foundress, which includes a nonreproductive phase,
characterized by ovary inactivation, not typically expressed by
subordinates. Little is known about individual flexibility across these
trajectories. Here, using the orchid bee Euglossa dilemma, we assess the
plasticity of subordinate helpers, finding that they are capable of the
same behavioral, physiological, transcriptomic, and chemical changes seen
in foundresses. Our results suggest that the lack of nonreproductive
workers in E. dilemma is not due to a lack of subordinate plasticity.