Small Queens in the Ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: A New Case of Social Parasitism

Social parasites exploit the worker force of colonies of other social insects to rear their own young. Social parasitism occurs in several Hymenoptera and is particularly common in several tribes of the ant subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae. Here, we document the occurrence of miniaturized queen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral ecology and sociobiology 2005-12, Vol.59 (2), p.285-292
Main Authors: Hora, Riviane R., Doums, Claudie, Poteaux, Chantal, Fénéron, Renée, Valenzuela, Jorge, Heinze, Jürgen, Fresneau, Dominique
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal ethology
Ants
Biological and medical sciences
Colonies
Ectatomma
Ectatomma ruidum
Formicidae
Formicinae
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetics
Hymenoptera
Insect behavior
Insect colonies
Insect genetics
Insect reproduction
Life Sciences
Myrmicinae
Neurons and Cognition
Offspring
Parasites
Parasitism
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Queen insects
Social insects
Social parasitism
Worker insects
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Summary:Social parasites exploit the worker force of colonies of other social insects to rear their own young. Social parasitism occurs in several Hymenoptera and is particularly common in several tribes of the ant subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae. Here, we document the occurrence of miniaturized queens (microgynes) in colonies of Ectatomma tuberculatum, an ant belonging to the subfamily Ectatomminae. Behavioral observations and genetic analyses show that microgynes concentrate their reproductive efforts almost exclusively on the production of sexual offspring (microgynes and males), whereas the regular, large queens (macrogynes) produce workers in addition to sexuals. According to mitochondrial and nuclear markers, gene flow between microgynes and macrogynes is extremely limited. Whereas the co-occurrence of microgynes and macrogynes in the related species Ectatomma ruidum constitutes an intraspecific polymorphism associated with alternative dispersal tactics, microgynes found in colonies of E. tuberculatum appear to be a distinct species and to represent the first case of social parasitism in the poneromorph subfamilies of ants.
ISSN:0340-5443
1432-0762
DOI:10.1007/s00265-005-0040-9