Division of labor underlies the success of most evolutionary transitions from simple to more complex entities. While the mechanisms leading to cell differentiation in multi-cellular organisms are quite well understood, research on division of labor in insect societies has only slowly moved beyond a merely descriptive stage. In this project, we aim at determining proximate mechanisms that bring about (reproductive) division of labor in a very simple model system, the clonal ant Platythyrea punctata, in which all individuals are genetically and morphologically identical. We intend to determine, which social and environmental conditions during larval development or shortly after eclosion affect the propensity of an individual to start reproducing or to take over non-reproductive tasks. We will focus explicitly on factors that are believed to play a role in species with morphological castes, such as nutrition and worker / larvae ratio, and on social interactions shortly after adult emergence. Results from these behavioral studies and experimental manipulations shall be complemented by comparisons of gene expression among individuals, which, because of their previous history, likely become reproductives or non-reproductives. We expect that through our investigations we will significantly contribute to our understanding of the fundamental principles that underlie division of labor in socialinsects.
