Testing a Unique Sex Determination Mechanism in Invasive Texas Ant
Sam Rico, Nico Fernandez
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: Scott Roy
Throughout Hymenoptera the complementary sex determiner, known as CSD, is considered to be the primary mechanism for sex determination. The other lesser-known method involves imprinting only seen in Nasonia vitripennis, a type of wasp. Despite that, CSD is only known in 4 out of 21 hymenopteran superfamilies–a majority of them displaying a loss of CSD. Significant advances have been made in honey bees, but most remain uncertain. It is known that CSD produces diploid males under conditions of inbreeding. Nylanderia fulva, the crazy Tawny ant, is currently an invasive ant species found in Texas and follows the same conditions. But N.fulva seems to have atypical sex determination which results in aberrant male and female offspring. Those aberrant offspring are the AA haploid males and B females. AA individuals develop as males despite being haploid. Because of this, it is believed that femaleness is determined in the B haplotype by some feminizing gene. The B haplotype is lethal so we must test this by assessing expression levels in AA and AB eggs and larvae. If the mechanism proves to be something other than CSD, it can bring insight into much that is unknown.