origin and evolution of social insect queen pheromones: Novel hypotheses and outstanding problems

• Published in: BioEssays Vol. 37; no. 7; pp. 808 - 821
• Main Authors: Oi, Cintia A, van Zweden, Jelle S, Oliveira, Ricardo C, Van Oystaeyen, Annette, Nascimento, Fabio S, Wenseleers, Tom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Published for ICSU Press by Cambridge University Press 01.07.2015; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: ancestry; Animals; Biological Evolution; Bombus; cuticular hydrocarbons; evolution; fertility signals; Formicidae; hydrocarbons; Hymenoptera; insect colonies; Insect Hormones - physiology; Insecta - physiology; Pheromones; polyethism; queen pheromones; Reproduction; reproductive conflict; reproductive division of labour; Sex Attractants - physiology; social evolution; social Hymenoptera; social insects; reproductive division of labour; social Hymenoptera; queen pheromones; reproductive conflict; cuticular hydrocarbons; social evolution; fertility signals
• ISSN: 0265-9247; 1521-1878
• DOI: 10.1002/bies.201400180

Queen pheromones, which signal the presence of a fertile queen and induce daughter workers to remain sterile, are considered to play a key role in regulating the reproductive division of labor of insect societies. Although queen pheromones were long thought to be highly taxon‐specific, recent studies have shown that structurally related long‐chain hydrocarbons act as conserved queen signals across several independently evolved lineages of social insects. These results imply that social insect queen pheromones are very ancient and likely derived from an ancestral signalling system that was already present in their common solitary ancestors. Based on these new insights, we here review the literature and speculate on what signal precursors social insect queen pheromones may have evolved from. Furthermore, we provide compelling evidence that these pheromones should best be seen as honest signals of fertility as opposed to suppressive agents that chemically sterilize the workers against their own best interests.