Clonal composition of colonies of a eusocial aphid, Ceratovacuna japonica

High degrees of relatedness among colony mates and kin recognition ability are important factors maintaining eusociality. However, in eusocial aphids, clone mixing between different colonies is reported to occur frequently, suggesting a lack of kin recognition. Studies investigating the clonal composition of eusocial aphid colonies have focused on the aphid generation on the primary host plant (gall generation). To test whether clone mixing also occurs in open colonies of eusocial aphids on their secondary host plants (open-colony generation), we carried out an amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis to investigate clonal composition within colonies of the eusocial aphid Ceratovacuna japonica. The results showed that clone mixing occurred frequently in open-colony generation