Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system

Abstract Temporal division of labor, or age polyethism, in which altruistic caste individuals change their tasks with aging, is widely found in bees and ants (Hymenoptera) and also in other social insects. Here we report the discovery of elaborate age polyethism in a social aphid (Hemiptera). Tubera...

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Autores principales:	Harunobu Shibao, Mayako Kutsukake, Takema Fukatsu
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4ce5fd830841494c9b92b82c67228a3a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4ce5fd830841494c9b92b82c67228a3a2021-12-02T14:01:21ZTemporal division of labor in an aphid social system10.1038/s41598-021-81006-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/4ce5fd830841494c9b92b82c67228a3a2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81006-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Temporal division of labor, or age polyethism, in which altruistic caste individuals change their tasks with aging, is widely found in bees and ants (Hymenoptera) and also in other social insects. Here we report the discovery of elaborate age polyethism in a social aphid (Hemiptera). Tuberaphis styraci is a gall-forming aphid in which monomorphic first instar nymphs differentiate into normal nymphs and soldiers upon second instar molt. Soldiers neither grow nor reproduce but perform gall cleaning and colony defense. Using an artificial diet rearing system, we collected age-defined groups of soldiers and monitored their social behaviors. We observed that young soldiers tend to clean whereas old soldiers preferentially attack, thereby verifying age-dependent task switching from housekeeping to defense. Strategic sampling, age estimation and behavioral observation of soldiers from natural galls revealed that (1) young cleaning soldiers tend to inhabit upper gall regions with adult insects, (2) old attacking soldiers tend to be distributed in lower gall regions, particularly around the gall openings, and (3) the gall structure is linked to intra-nest movement, aging and task switching of soldiers in an adaptive manner. These results highlight an evolutionary parallelism comparable to the sophisticated temporal division of labor observed in honeybee colonies.Harunobu ShibaoMayako KutsukakeTakema FukatsuNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Harunobu Shibao Mayako Kutsukake Takema Fukatsu Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
description	Abstract Temporal division of labor, or age polyethism, in which altruistic caste individuals change their tasks with aging, is widely found in bees and ants (Hymenoptera) and also in other social insects. Here we report the discovery of elaborate age polyethism in a social aphid (Hemiptera). Tuberaphis styraci is a gall-forming aphid in which monomorphic first instar nymphs differentiate into normal nymphs and soldiers upon second instar molt. Soldiers neither grow nor reproduce but perform gall cleaning and colony defense. Using an artificial diet rearing system, we collected age-defined groups of soldiers and monitored their social behaviors. We observed that young soldiers tend to clean whereas old soldiers preferentially attack, thereby verifying age-dependent task switching from housekeeping to defense. Strategic sampling, age estimation and behavioral observation of soldiers from natural galls revealed that (1) young cleaning soldiers tend to inhabit upper gall regions with adult insects, (2) old attacking soldiers tend to be distributed in lower gall regions, particularly around the gall openings, and (3) the gall structure is linked to intra-nest movement, aging and task switching of soldiers in an adaptive manner. These results highlight an evolutionary parallelism comparable to the sophisticated temporal division of labor observed in honeybee colonies.
format	article
author	Harunobu Shibao Mayako Kutsukake Takema Fukatsu
author_facet	Harunobu Shibao Mayako Kutsukake Takema Fukatsu
author_sort	Harunobu Shibao
title	Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
title_short	Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
title_full	Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
title_fullStr	Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
title_full_unstemmed	Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
title_sort	temporal division of labor in an aphid social system
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/4ce5fd830841494c9b92b82c67228a3a
work_keys_str_mv	AT harunobushibao temporaldivisionoflaborinanaphidsocialsystem AT mayakokutsukake temporaldivisionoflaborinanaphidsocialsystem AT takemafukatsu temporaldivisionoflaborinanaphidsocialsystem
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Temporal division of labor in an aphid social system

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