Sclerodermus

Sclerodermus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Bethylidae
Subfamily: Scleroderminae
Genus: Sclerodermus
Latreille, 1810
Synonyms
  • Sclerodermus Latreille, 1809 (Nom. Nud.)
  • Scleroderma Oken, 1817 (Missp.)
  • Scleroderma Klug, 1809 (Misattribution published in 1829)
  • Scleroderma Westwood, 1839 (Emend.)
  • Schroderma Lepeletier, 1845 (Missp.)
  • Sclerochroa Foerster, 1850
  • Ateleopterus Foerster, 1856
  • Schleroderma Costa, 1864 (Missp.)
  • Neoscleroderma Kieffer, 1905
  • Lepidosternopsis Ogloblin, 1954

Sclerodermus is a genus of chrysidoid wasps in the family Bethylidae. There are at least 20 described species in Sclerodermus.

Reproduction and sex ratios

Species of Sclerodermus exhibit quasi-social behavior: multiple females cooperate to paralyze a host and care for a shared brood. Despite this cooperation, they consistently produce highly female-biased sex ratios often with less than 10% males, even when many mothers are present.

According to classical sex ratio theory, more mothers should lead to a more balanced ratio of sons and daughters, since males would no longer be competing only with their brothers to mate. The extreme female bias in Sclerodermus contradicts this expectation. Recent models suggest that dominant females may influence sex ratios by killing the sons of subordinates or preventing their production, a behavior known as infanticide. These social dynamics help explain the unusual patterns observed in this genus.

Species

Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net

References

  1. ↑ Pujade-Villar, J. & Viñolas, Amador & Muñoz-Batet, Josep & Brothers, Denis & Azevedo, Celso. (2021). Sclerodermus versus Scleroderma (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae). Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural 85(1): 37-40. doi:10.2436/20.1502.01.71
  2. 1 2 "Sclerodermus". GBIF. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  3. 1 2 "Sclerodermus Genus Information". BugGuide.net. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  4. ↑ "Sclerodermus Overview". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Lehtonen, Jussi; Malabusini, Serena; Guo, Xiaomeng; Hardy, Ian C W (2023-02-01). "Individual- and group-level sex ratios under local mate competition: consequences of infanticide and reproductive dominance". Evolution Letters. 7 (1): 13–23. doi:10.1093/evlett/qrac005. ISSN 2056-3744. PMC 10091503.
  6. ↑ "ITIS, Integrated Taxonomic Information System". Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  7. ↑ "Catalogue of Life". Retrieved 2018-04-07.

Further reading