Complementary sex determination in the genus Diadegma (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)

Abstract

In the evolution of sexual reproduction we would expect to see a close association between mating systems and sex determination mechanisms. Such associations are especially evident in the insect order Hymenoptera which shows great diversity with respect to both of these characteristics. The ancestral sex determination mechanism in this order is thought to be singlelocus complementary sex determination (sl-CSD), which is inbreeding sensitive, and where inbreeding results in the production of sterile diploid males rather than daughters. Presently, however, there is insufficient data to give strong support to the hypothesis that sl-CSD is truly the ancestral condition in the Hymenoptera, principally because of the difficulty of reliably determining the degree of male ploidy. Here we show that six ichneumonid parasitoids from the polyphyletic genus Diadegma are subject to sl-CSD, using neuronal cell DNA flow cytometry to distinguish ploidy levels. The presence of sl-CSD in these six species, together with earlier evidence from the authors for D. chrysostictos, provides considerable support for the notion that sl-CSD was ancestral in the Aculeata/Ichneumonoidea clade, which contains all eusocial Hymenoptera. Moreover, because flow cytometry discriminates reliably between haploid and diploid males, and is independent of the maternal sex allocation or the need for genetic markers, it has considerable potential for the determination of ploidy more generally.