Queen fertility, egg marking and colony size in the ant Camponotus floridanus |
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Authors: | Annett Endler Jürgen Liebig Bert Hölldobler |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Wurzburg, Germany;(2) School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA |
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Abstract: | In ant societies, workers do not usually reproduce but gain indirect fitness benefits from raising related offspring produced
by the queen. One of the preconditions of this worker self-restraint is sufficient fertility of the queen. The queen is, therefore,
expected to signal her fertility. In Camponotus floridanus, workers can recognize the presence of a highly fertile queen via her eggs, which are marked with the queen's specific hydrocarbon
profile. If information on fertility is encoded in the hydrocarbon profile of eggs, we expect workers to be able to differentiate
between eggs from highly and weakly fertile queens. We found that workers discriminate between these eggs solely on the basis
of their hydrocarbon profiles which differ both qualitatively and quantitatively. This pattern is further supported by the
similarity of the egg profiles of workers and weakly fertile queens and the similar treatment of both kinds of eggs. Profiles
of queen eggs correspond to the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of the respective queens. Changes in the cuticular profiles
are associated with the size of the colony the queen originates from and her current egg-laying rate. However, partial correlation
analysis indicates that only colony size predicts the cuticular profile. Colony size is a buffered indicator of queen fertility
as it is a consequence of queen productivity within a certain period of time, whereas daily egg-laying rate varies due to
cyclical oviposition. We conclude that surface hydrocarbons of eggs and the cuticular profiles of queens both signal queen
fertility, suggesting a major role of fertility signals in the regulation of reproduction in social insects. |
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Keywords: | Queen signal Honest signaling Pheromone Cuticular hydrocarbons Worker policing Conflict Formicidae |
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