Reclaiming the crown: queen to worker conflict over reproduction in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aphaenogaster cockerelli</Emphasis> |
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Authors: | Adrian A Smith Bert Hölldobler Jürgen Liebig |
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Institution: | 1.School of Life Sciences and Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity,Arizona State University,Tempe,USA;2.Biozentrum, Zoologie II,Universit?t Würzburg,Würzburg,Germany |
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Abstract: | In many social taxa, reproductively dominant individuals sometimes use aggression to secure and maintain reproductive status.
In the social insects, queen aggression towards subordinate individuals or workers has been documented and is predicted to
occur only in species with a small colony size and a low level of queen–worker dimorphism. We report queen aggression towards
reproductive workers in the ant species Aphaenogaster cockerelli, a species with a relatively large colony size and a high level of reproductive dimorphism. Through analysis of cuticular
hydrocarbon profiles, we show that queens are aggressive only to reproductively active workers. Non-reproductive workers treated
with a hydrocarbon typical for reproductives are attacked by workers but not by queens, which suggests different ways of recognition.
We provide possible explanations of why queen aggression is observed in this species. |
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