Low paternity in the hornet Vespa crabro indicates that multiple mating byqueens is derived in vespine wasps

Queen mating frequency was studied in the European hornet, Vespa crabro, by analyzing four DNA microsatellite loci in 20 workers from each of 14 nests . Queens were found to be predominantly singly mated (9/14), although doubl e (4/14) and triple mating (1/14) also occurred. For most multiply mated qu eens, paternity was significantly biased with the majority male fathering o n average 80% of the female offspring. The population-wide effective mating frequency was therefore low (1.11), and sister-sister relatedness high (0. 701 +/- 0.023 SE). Low effective mating frequency in Vespa in combination w ith data from other vespines, suggests that high paternity frequency is der ived in the group. Some problems with the non-detection of fathers, where t he queen was not sampled or shared alleles with males, are analyzed.