Demography and relatedness in multiple-foundress nests of the social sweat bee, Halictus ligatus

Female sweat bees in the species Halictus ligatus exhibit a wide range of reproductive roles, ranging from typically foundress or queen-like to typically worker-like. Nests are founded in spring and most are haplometrotic, that is, founded by a single foundress. A few (up to 12 %) are pleometrotic, founded by 2-6 foundresses. Variation in the proportion of multifoundress nests from year to year and from place to place suggests an adaptive basis for pleometrosis. We studied the demographic and social characteristics of 23 pleometrotic nests in an aggregation of 250-300 nests near Victoria, Ontario, in 1984, 1990, and 1991. In pleometrotic associations, dominant foundresses behaved in a manner typical of mid-summer, haplometrotic queens, while subordinates behaved like mid-summer workers. Dominant foundresses tended to be larger than subordinates. Pleometrotic nests were significantly more likely than haplometrotic nests to produce brood, and they also produced more workers. However, this early advantage did not result in the production of more reproductive brood per nest, nor did pleometrotic foundresses experience higher productivity per foundress than did haplometrotic foundresses. Relatively low relatedness among various categories of brood implied that subordinate foundresses were not closely related to dominants. We suggest that pleometrosis most likely results from accidental encounters between spring foundresses as they leave their hibernacula. Once formed, such associations confer a survival advantage on the nest as a whole, but do not result in greater reproductive brood productivity.