Data from: Conserved class of queen pheromones stops social insect workers from reproducing

A major evolutionary transition to eusociality with reproductive division of labor between queens and workers has arisen independently at least 10 times in the ants, bees, and wasps. Pheromones produced by queens are thought to play a key role in regulating this complex social system, but their evolutionary history remains unknown. Here, we identify the first sterility-inducing queen pheromones in a wasp, bumblebee, and desert ant and synthesize existing data on compounds that characterize female fecundity in 64 species of social insects. Our results show that queen pheromones are strikingly conserved across at least three independent origins of eusociality, with wasps, ants, and some bees all appearing to use nonvolatile, saturated hydrocarbons to advertise fecundity and/or suppress worker reproduction. These results suggest that queen pheromones evolved from conserved signals of solitary ancestors.

在蚂蚁、蜜蜂与胡蜂类群中，具备蚁后与工蜂间生殖分工的真社会性（eusociality）重大演化过渡，至少已独立发生10次。学界普遍认为，蚁后分泌的信息素在调控这一复杂社会系统中发挥关键作用，但其演化历史仍不明晰。本研究首次在胡蜂、熊蜂（bumblebee）与沙漠蚁中鉴定出诱导不育的蚁后信息素，并整合了64种社会性昆虫中表征雌性生殖力的化合物的现有研究数据。研究结果显示，蚁后信息素在至少三次独立起源的真社会性类群中呈现出显著的保守性：胡蜂、蚂蚁以及部分蜜蜂均采用非挥发性饱和烃来宣告自身生殖能力，或抑制工蜂的生殖行为。上述结果表明，蚁后信息素演化自独居祖先的保守信号。