Abstracts » Zoology and wildlife conservation

Competition and relatedness between queens of the facultatively polygynous ant Myrmica tahoensis

Article Abstract:

In the polygynous colonies of Myrmica tahoensis, queen and workers behave in different ways towards newly introduced queens, but the queens' genotypic relatedness has no effect on their behavior. The study was conducted on seven monogynous colonies, nine polygynous colonies, and seven colonies having one native and one newly introduced queen each. Both dominance and aggression were absent in these colonies, but the egg laying rate was similar in all the cases. However, other activities of queens, such as grooming and antennating workers and other queens, differed in different colonies.

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Colony founding by queen association and determinants of reduction in queen number in the ant Lasius niger

Article Abstract:

The queens of Lasius Niger ant avoid regions visited by workers of established colonies causing extra clumping of nest foundations. In the field, 18 percent of colony foundation-nests carried more than one queen. Queens reveal neither inclination nor disinclination towards pleometrotic founding, suggesting that foundress associations are stimulated by crowding and strong inter-colony competition. Brood-raiding took place under laboratory condition. Other worker/queen relationships are discussed.

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Sterility for life: applying the concept of eusociality

Article Abstract:

The myrmecine ant Pristomyrmex pungens is not a communal nester. However, it is also erroneous to classify it as eusocial as defined by E.O. Wilson. One of the three criteria of eusociality specifies that there is reproductive division of labor with sterile or subfertile individuals working in behalf of sterile individuals. The sterility criterion should be interpreted as a lifetime phenomenon and not just temporal as those that occur in older individuals.

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