A test of the haplodiploid analogy hypothesis in the termite reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Abstract

In some species of lower termites, translocation complexes generate sex-dependent asymmetric relatedness within colonies. It has been suggested that increased relatedness, between both male and female siblings, for loci on translocation chromosomes might have favored the evolution of eusociality among termites in the same way that haplodiploidy has in hymenopterans. This sex-linkage hypothesis predicts that workers should invest more in sibling nymphs of the same sex. Although I observed sex-linked interchange heterozygosity in Reticulitermes speratus Kolbe, I found no differences in the survival rates or weight gain of nymphs reared by sibling workers of the same sex and those reared by sibling workers of the opposite sex. This empirical study did not support the haplodiploid analogy for lower termites.