The evolution of the mating system of a species is strongly influenced by the spatial and temporal distribution of females and/or resources. Here, we describe aspects of the territorial behavior of males of a solitary digger wasp, the European beewolf (Philanthus triangulum) and characterize the mating system. We show that beewolf males establish small territories that do not contain any resources essential to females. These territories are intensively scent-marked with a pheromone from a cephalic gland and are defended against intruders in combat flights. We provide evidence that scent-marking constitutes a chemical display and that the pheromone serves to attract receptive females and, thus, represents a sex pheromone. Using spatial statistics, we show that beewolf territories are clumped in space both with respect to other male territories and, more importantly, with respect to female nesting sites. Additionally, the proportion of days a territory is occupied by a male is correlated with the number of female nests in the vicinity. Taking into account that beewolf males do not defend or provide resources essential to females, but merely display chemically to attract females for mating in an aggregation of territories close to female nesting sites, we conclude that the European beewolf exhibits a hotspot lek polygyny with female nesting sites constituting ''hotspots'' for lek formation.
The workerless parasitic ant,Leptothorax wilsoni, as yet known only from colonies ofLeptothoraxcf.canadensis, was found in five colonies of a second host species,Leptothoraxsp. A (sensu Heinze and Buschinger, 1989) near Escoumins, Québec. This is the first finding of an inquiline with more than one host species in the ant tribe Formicoxenni. In contrast to a previous statemem, the palp formula ofL. wilsoniis 4. 3.
We report on a simultaneous nuptial flight of ants of two sympatric ponerine species, Pachycondyla impressa and P. fauveli, on the top of Huayna Picchu (2700 m), Peru. After flying in and landing on the flat, bare rock.f of the summit, the conspecific sexuals approached, antennated and mated without any previous female culling behaviour. During one hour of observation, the number of approximately 30 o o and 9 9 of Pachycondyla impressa and 70-Bq of P. fauveli on the site remained constant because of individuals continuously arriving and leaving.Although nuptial flight seems to be the most common type of mating system in ants, this is one of the very few reports on the occurrence of this behaviour in ponerine species.
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