Sexual reproduction by both queens and workers in the ponerine ant Harpegnathos saltator
@article{Peeters2000SexualRB, title={Sexual reproduction by both queens and workers in the ponerine ant Harpegnathos saltator}, author={Christian Peeters and J{\"u}rgen Liebig and Bert Hölldobler}, journal={Insectes Sociaux}, year={2000}, volume={47}, pages={325-332} }
Summary: Ant workers are very often reproductively degenerate females, but in some species from subfamily Ponerinae, the workers can mate and lay fertilized eggs just like queens (they are then termed "gamergates"). In Harpegnathos saltator, new colonies are founded independently by single queens, and when senescent they are replaced by several gamergates. This secondary polygyny is distinguished by three features: (1) behavioural data indicate that young workers copulate with their brothers…
74 Citations
Gamergates (Mated Egg-Laying Workers) and Queens both Reproduce in Euponera sikorae Ants from Madagascar
- BiologyAfrican Entomology
- 2016
The occurrence of non-flying reproductives (gamergates and ergatoid queens) in Odontomachus genus-group is reviewed, and exoskeleton remains of a staphylinid beetle were found in one nest of E. sikorae, pointing to specialised predation.
Role of the queen in regulating reproduction in the bulldog ant Myrmecia gulosa: control or signalling?
- BiologyAnimal Behaviour
- 2005
Reproduction, dominance, and caste: endocrine profiles of queens and workers of the ant Harpegnathos saltator
- BiologyJournal of Comparative Physiology A
- 2011
Results support the hypothesis that JH has lost its reproductive function in H. saltator to regulate foraging among the worker caste and application of a JH analog to virgin queens of H. Saltator failed to promote egg production.
Male production by workers in the polygynous ant Prolasius advenus
- BiologyInsectes Sociaux
- 2013
The ability of workers to produce male individuals is reported here for the first time in a species of the formicine ant genus Prolasius and results suggest that in nature P. advenus workers produce males at least in orphaned colonies or in situations where the physical presence of queens is limited.
Large Colonies and Striking Sexual investment in the African Stink Ant, Paltothyreus tarsatus (Subfamily Ponerinae)
- Environmental Science, Biology
- 2013
Forty two nests of Paltothyreus tarsatus were excavated from three distinct habitats in the Ivory Coast, finding colonies were monogynous in Comoé, but polygynous in Taï (rainforest), and mean colony size was 1576 ± 1543 workers.
Winged queens replaced by reproductives smaller than workers in Mystrium ants
- BiologyNaturwissenschaften
- 2006
‘red’ intermorphs are the first case of reproductives smaller than workers in ants and illustrate their potential to diversify their caste system for better colonial economy.
Colony dispersal and the evolution of queen morphology in social Hymenoptera.
- BiologyAnnual review of entomology
- 2001
This work focuses on the characteristics of fission in the phylogenetically primitive ants Ponerinae in which both ergatoid queens and gamergates occur.
Seasonal cycle of colony structure in the Ponerine ant Pachycondyla chinensis in western Japan (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
- BiologyInsectes Sociaux
- 2007
This work investigated the seasonal cycle of changes in the colony structure of Pachycondyla chinensis reproduced by alate queens in western Japan, and found the following novel biological characteristics of this species.
Polygyny and polyandry in small ant societies
- BiologyMolecular ecology
- 2007
A new taxon in social Hymenoptera with high queen‐mating frequencies and with intriguing mating and dispersal patterns of the sexuals is found, found in two closely related Neotropical ant species P. inversa and P. villosa.
Shift in Colonial Reproductive Strategy Associated with a Tropical‐Temperate Gradient in Rhytidoponera Ants
- Environmental ScienceThe American Naturalist
- 2008
Investigation of colony demography and measurement of lean and fat weights in virgin winged queens and workers showed that, from north to south, colonies increase quality of queens relative to workers at the cost of quantity, which limits the decrease in ICF success.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 31 REFERENCES
Reproductive cooperation between queens and their mated workers: the complex life history of an ant with a valuable nest.
- BiologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 1995
The life history of Harpegnathos saltator is exceptional among ants because both queens and workers reproduce sexually, and the annual production of queens in colonies with reproductive workers remains essential for the establishment of new colonies, compared with various other ponerine species in which the queens no longer exist.
The occurrence of sexual reproduction among ant workers
- Biology
- 1991
Although a few non-ponerine species exhibit some of these preconditions, gamergates have not been found outside the Ponerinae, which alone exhibit the combination of traits leading to queen elimination and worker mating.
Monogyny and regulation of worker mating in the queenless ant
Dinoponera quadriceps
- BiologyAnimal Behaviour
- 1998
Comparison evidence indicates that worker mating is often regulated in monogynous species, while unrestricted mating of young individuals is typical of polygynous species (oviposition is regulated subsequently).
Are variations in cuticular hydrocarbons of queens and workers a reliable signal of fertility in the ant Harpegnathos saltator?
- BiologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 2000
A striking correlation of ovarian activity with CHC variation and its correspondence with the observed recognition behavior exhibited by the workers toward egg-laying nestmates suggests that CHCs serve as a fertility signal in the ant H. saltator, a reliable basis for regulating reproduction.
COLONY REPRODUCTION AND ARBOREAL LIFE IN THE PONERINE ANT GNAMPTOGENYS MENADENSIS (HYMENOPTERA : FORMICIDAE)
- Biology
- 1997
It is found that the majority of colonies in the studied population (Sulawesi) are queenless, and reproduce through gamergates (mated workers laying reproductive eggs), Nevertheless, queens can occasionally be produced, and 5% of nests contained a single reproductive queen.
Genetic Relatedness and Colony Organization in a Species Complex of Ponerine Ants II . Patterns of Sex Ratio Investment
- Biology
In the Rhytidoponera impressa group, populations of Type A (queenright, monogynous) colonies produce numerous colony-founding queens and have markedly female-biassed sex ratios of investment, indicating that Type A colonies compensate for male bias in the community sex ratio generated by Type B colonies.
"Queenlessness," Worker Sibship, and Colony Versus Population Structure in the Formicid Genus Rhytidoponera
- Biology
- 1965
In certain respects, the shift from a "queen-like" toward a "wo.rkerlike" torm of reproductive temale is curious and striking, and may even suggest a reversal of the’ ’trend tending to emphasize the dichotomy between more "vegetative’ and more actively "fo.raging” torms.
Some Consequences of Fisher's Sex Ratio Principle for Social Hymenoptera that Reproduce by Colony Fission
- BiologyThe American Naturalist
- 1979
It was determined that, for the evolution of fission reproduction via kin selection, necessary conditions imply certain constraints on the demographic parameters, and in principle these constraints are measurable.
Colony composition of two Malaysian Ponerine ants, Platythyrea tricuspidata and P. quadridenta: sexual reproduction by workers and production of queens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
- Biology
- 1994
Colonies of ponerine ants Platythyrea quadridenta and P. tricuspidata were collected in the rainforest of West Malaysia and produced alate queens and exhibited sexual reproduction by workers.
Sexual calling behavior in primitive ants.
- BiologyScience
- 1977
The wingless virgin females of the ponerine ant Rhytidoponera metallica attract males by the release of a pheromone from the tergal gland, a hitherto unrecognized exocrine gland located between the…