Genetic conflict and conditional altruism in social aphid colonies

Although kin selection is central to the modern study of social evolution, recent studies of social species have revealed that no simple relationship exists between levels of kinship and sociality. The soldier-producing aphids are unique among highly social animals because, barring movement by aphids between colonies, they occur in clonal groups of genetically identical individuals. Potentially, clonality simplifies efforts to understand social evolution in aphids by obviating issues of intragroup conflict. However, we report here high levels of clonal mixing and conflict in an aphid society. The gall-dwelling colonies of a social aphid species (Pemphigus obesinymphae) are not pure clones, but are invaded by large numbers of aphids from other clones. Intruders behave and develop selfishly once they have invaded a colony of nonkin. They refrain from risky defensive behaviors and accelerate their own development into reproductive rather than defensive stages. This conditionality in the social life of P. obesinymphae reveals complex dynamics and a degree of behavioral plasticity not previously known in aphid societies.