COLONY DISPERSAL AND THE EVOLUTION OF QUEEN MORPHOLOGY IN SOCIAL HYMENOPTERA

Social Hymenoptera show two contrasting strategies of colony reproduction. A reproductive female can raise the first generation of brood alone (independent foundation), or a colony can divide into autonomous parts in which the reproductive female is helped by sterile relatives (fission, budding, swa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of entomology 2001-01, Vol.46 (1), p.601-630
Main Authors: Peeters, Christian, Ito, Fuminori
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Ants - classification
Apoidea
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
colony fission
Female
flight
Forecasting
Formicidae
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
gamergate
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera - anatomy & histology
Hymenoptera - classification
morphology
Phylogeny
Ponerinae
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Social Behavior
Vespoidea
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Summary:Social Hymenoptera show two contrasting strategies of colony reproduction. A reproductive female can raise the first generation of brood alone (independent foundation), or a colony can divide into autonomous parts in which the reproductive female is helped by sterile relatives (fission, budding, swarming). In independent-founding ants, queens can histolize their flight muscles after dispersal; in many species, large flight muscles and metabolic reserves reduce or eliminate the need for risky foraging trips during the vulnerable solitary stage. Colony division is a derived strategy, and we review the selective pressures leading to its occurrence in the different social taxa. In various ants, fission coexists with independent foundation, and alate queens are retained. However, in ants exhibiting obligate fission (e.g. all army ants and many Ponerinae), queens are permanently wingless (ergatoid), or the queen caste is missing altogether. When reproductive females are flightless, dispersal distances and colonization ability are reduced, and there are extensive modifications in mating behavior and resource allocation. We focus on the characteristics of fission in the phylogenetically primitive ants Ponerinae in which both ergatoid queens and gamergates occur. The ground-living habits of ants have permitted extensive changes in the phenotypes of their reproductive females, unlike in wasps and bees.
ISSN:0066-4170
1545-4487
DOI:10.1146/annurev.ento.46.1.601