View source for Gyne

{{Short description|Primary reproductive female castes of insects, also known as queens}}
{{redirect|Insect queen|the comics characters|Insect Queen}}
[[File:Apis mellifera scutellata 1355021.jpg|thumb|Queen (marked) and workers of the Africanised honey bee, ''[[Apis mellifera scutellata]]'']]
The '''gyne''' ({{IPAc-en|'|g|ai|n}}, from Greek γυνή, "woman") is the primary reproductive female [[Caste (biology)|caste]] of [[social insect]]s (especially [[ant]]s, [[wasp]]s, and [[bee]]s of order [[Hymenoptera]], as well as [[termite]]s). Gynes are those destined to become '''queens''', whereas female workers are typically barren and cannot become queens. Having a queen is what makes a "queenright" hive, nest, or colony of [[eusociality|eusocial]] insects.<ref name="queenright-Merriam-Webster" /><ref name="Helantera-Ratnieks-2019" /> A colony with multiple queens is said to be a '''polygyne''' form, whereas one with only one is a '''monogyne''' form.
The ancient Greek origin of ''gyne'' meant a woman who had given birth to at least one child.<ref>Women in Classical Greece https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wmna/hd_wmna.htm</ref>
In species lacking morphological castes (i.e., where "workers" may not be sterile), the term "gyne" is usually reserved for those females whose entire life is spent as a reproductive or potential reproductive, as opposed to those who start life as a worker and subsequently attain reproductive status (often called a "replacement queen" or a "laying worker"). These can be seen in certain species of [[stingless bee]] like the ''[[Plebeia remota]]'' where both gynes and workers are capable of reproducing.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Biology of the stingless beePlebeia remota (Holmberg): observations and evolutionary implications|journal = Insectes Sociaux|date = 1995-03-01|issn = 0020-1812|pages = 71–87|volume = 42|issue = 1|doi = 10.1007/BF01245700|language = en|first1 = F. D. J. van|last1 = Benthem|first2 = V. L.|last2 = Imperatriz-Fonseca|first3 = H. H. W.|last3 = Velthuis|s2cid = 45830578}}</ref>  In most species with annual colony cycles, only gynes can enter [[diapause]] and overwinter, while workers – both non-reproductive and reproductive – die off. In some groups, such as [[Polistes|paper wasps]], gynes join with other gynes at the time of nest founding, and may be relegated to subordinate reproductive roles, so being a gyne does not guarantee that a female will become a queen.
== Examples ==
The [[red imported fire ant]] is known to have colonies in both polygyne and monogyne forms.
The small red ant, ''[[Leptothorax acervorum]]'', has colonies that switch from monogyny to polygyny as a result of seasonal fluctuations.<ref name=Colony>{{cite journal |author=Jurgen Heinze|title=Colony structure and reproduction in the ant, ''Leptothorax acervorum''|journal=Behavioral Ecology |year=1994|volume=6|issue=4|pages=359–367|doi=10.1093/beheco/6.4.359}}</ref>
The little fire ant [[Electric ant|''Wasmannia auropunctata'']] produces unique kinds of meiotic [[oocyte]]s with a drastic reduction in recombination.  These oocytes may either fuse together for gyne production ([[automictic parthenogenesis]] with central fusion) or be fertilized by male gametes for the production of workers.<ref name=Rey>{{cite journal |vauthors=Rey O, Loiseau A, Facon B, Foucaud J, Orivel J, Cornuet JM, Robert S, Dobigny G, Delabie JH, Mariano Cdos S, Estoup A |title=Meiotic recombination dramatically decreased in thelytokous queens of the little fire ant and their sexually produced workers |journal=Mol. Biol. Evol. |volume=28 |issue=9 |pages=2591–601 |year=2011 |pmid=21459760 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msr082 |doi-access=free |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03303975/file/Rey%20et%20al%202011_MBE.pdf }}</ref>
In the wasp species ''[[Apoica flavissima]]'' queens display distinct morphological differences from the sterile worker class. In ''[[Ropalidia plebeiana]]'', gynes do not stay in the nest after they emerge as adults, but may spend their winters in their maternal nests. <ref>{{Cite journal |title = Colony cycle in the south-eastern coastal populations of Ropalidia plebeiana, the only Ropalidia wasp occurring in temperate Australia|last = Saito|first = Fuki|date = September 2005|journal = Entomological Science|doi = 10.1111/j.1479-8298.2005.00125.x|volume=8|issue = 3|pages=263–275|s2cid = 86359549|doi-access = free}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Eusociality]]
*[[Queen ant]]
*[[Queen bee]]
==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="queenright-Merriam-Webster">{{cite web | title=Definition of QUEENRIGHT | website=[[Merriam-Webster]] | date=2021-01-20 | url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queenright | access-date=2021-01-20}}</ref>
<ref name="Helantera-Ratnieks-2019">{{cite book | quote=In queenright colonies (red symbols), selfishness is more common in high relatedness species. | last1=Helanterä | first1=Heikki | last2=Ratnieks | first2=Francis L.W. | title=Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior | chapter=Worker Conflict and Worker Policing | publisher=[[Elsevier]] | year=2019 | isbn=978-0-12-813252-4 | doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-809633-8.20860-1 | pages=743–753| s2cid=238555294 }}</ref>
}}
* [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/WILINS.html ''The Insect Societies''], [[E.O. Wilson]], 1971, [[Harvard University Press]], {{ISBN|0-674-45490-1}}
[[Category:Insect ecology]]
[[Category:Insect reproduction]]
[[Category:Sociobiology]]