Abstract
Offspring and kin care are common in nature, while non-kin societies are
unusual due to their susceptibility to cheaters. Here, we investigated
the kinship of mast-building amphipods, Dyopedos bispinis
(Gurjanova, 1930). Our goal was to determine if all mast inhabitants are
descendants of a single founder female or if they represent a more
complex social structure. We sequenced and assembled the complete
mitochondrial genome of D. bispinis along with 59 partial genomes
from four masts. One of the studied masts contained several adult
females with embryos, all of which had identical partial mitochondrial
genome sequences. This shows that masts can be inhabited by individuals
from different generations. Mitochondrial genome sequences of ten
mother-embryo pairs confirm maternal mtDNA inheritance in D.
bispinis. However, another mast contained several groups of female
individuals exhibiting pronounced (~0.7 substitutions per
1000 b.p.) distance between the groups. The genetic distance between
groups from the same mast was not less than the genetic distance from
specimens of other masts. This suggests collective usage of the mast by
non-related families. Given that adult female D. bispinis
individuals invest resources into mast maintenance, this case implies
non-kin cooperation among amphipods. Overall, our study provides an
insight into the family structures of mast-inhabiting amphipods and
presents a new model for studying the cooperation of non-related
individuals.