Oligogyny by unrelated queens in the carpenter ant, Camponotus ligniperdus |
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Authors: | Jürgen Gadau Pia J Gertsch Jürgen Heinze Pekka Pamilo Bert Hölldobler |
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Institution: | Theodor-Boveri-Institut (Biozentrum der Universit?t Würzburg), Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensphysiologie und Soziobiologie, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany, DE Department of Genetics, Uppsala University, Box 7003, S-75007 Uppsala, Sweden, SE Zoologisches Institut I, Universit?t Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstrasse 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany, DE
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Abstract: | Multilocus DNA fingerprinting and microsatellite analysis were used to determine the number of queens and their mating frequencies
in colonies of the carpenter ant, Camponotus ligniperdus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Only 1 of 61 analyzed queens was found to be double-mated and the population-wide effective mating
frequency was therefore 1.02. In the studied population, 8 of 21 mature field colonies (38%) contained worker, male, or virgin
queen genotypes which were not compatible with presumed monogyny and therefore suggested oligogyny, i.e., the cooccurrence
of several mutually intolerant queens within one colony. Estimated queen numbers in oligogynous colonies ranged between two
and five. According to the results of the genetic analysis, most of the queens coexisting in oligogynous colonies were not
closely related. Pleometrosis is very rare and queenless colonies adopt mated queens both in the laboratory and field. Therefore,
the most plausible explanation for the origin of oligogynous colonies in C. ligniperdus is the adoption of unrelated queens by orphaned mature colonies. The coexistence of unrelated, but mutually intolerant queens
in C. ligniperdus colonies demonstrates that oligogyny should be considered as a phenomenon distinct from polygyny.
Received: 18 December 1997 / Accepted after revision: 20 June 1998 |
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Keywords: | Ants Camponotus ligniperdus Oligogyny DNA fingerprinting Microsatellites |
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