Interspecific hybridization in ants: at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and behavior

Ants are social and are haplodiploid. This combination may allow the evolution of a variety of unusual genetic pathways to achieve reproductive success. These include hybridizing across species, differential use of sperm to create a hybrid worker population, and reproductively isolated gene pools that depend on each other for their survival. Although there are demonstrable costs for colony development and reproduction, these phenomena may nevertheless be relatively common in nature. The specific ecological advantages that favor the evolution of these reproductive modes remain to be discovered.