Recherches sur la biologie et l'éthologie deDolichoderus Quadripunctatus (L) (Hym. Form. Dolichoderidæ)

Torossian, C.

doi:10.1007/bf02223634

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…We also observed mass transportation of larvae and pupae between nest openings of Colony I. This behaviour -one more sign of the vitality of our study colonies, although located mostly in artificial constructions -was already described by Torossian (1968b), and later by Stukalyuk (2018). In our case (Colony I) it indicated a large population of D. quadripunctatus inhabiting the stone post -certainly in terms of the total size of the colony, perhaps also in terms of the number of nests constituting it.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Superficially, the present study area may seem less 'natural' than the other ones, but for D. quadripunctatus this would hardly matter, as it is known to use an extensive variety of natural and artificial sites and materials for nesting (Seifert 2018, Stukalyuk et al 2022). An example of site-specific differences between study localities is highlighted by Torossian's (1967c) finding that gyne offspring are produced in extremely small quantities, never more than 15-20 gynes in one colony. Evidently, however, here "colony" refers to one nest located in a cynipid gall.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We first thought that this suggested new mode of dispersal would be an alternative to the one claimed by Torossian (1968b): the females, directly fertilised in their natal nest, do not usually leave it. Because nests where gyne offspring develop are workers-only nests, acquisition of a fertilised gyne turns such a nest to a queenright one.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The basic social unit of D. quadripunctatus is a strictly monogynous colony with one queenright central or main nest and a number of queenless auxiliary nests which may be distributed even over a considerable space, though usually within a tree (Torossian 1967a, Seifert 2018). In such polydomous colony, the queen produces gyne and worker offspring; development of gynes takes place in auxiliary nests which are close enough to the central nest to inhibit reproduction of workers there through their frequent contacts with the queen (Torossian 1967b, c, 1968b). Males, in turn, are produced by workers in such auxiliary nests which are adequately distant from the queenright nest (Torossian 1960, 1968a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intricacies of the Biology of Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

et al. 2023

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The arboreal monogynous ant Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) usually nests in very confined loci, and the colony consists of several to many nests, of which one or a few are queenright. Sexual offspring develop in queenless nests, though males and gynes in separate nests. The prevailing view of the colony dynamics maintains that males invade nests with gynes to mate there. New queenright nests are thought to develop such that a gyne remains in her natal nest or gynes are carried by workers to an offshoot nest without a queen. In our previous, two-season studies we could not find support for these claims, and the present, third-season observations corroborate our previous results: gynes leaving their nest either by flight or on foot are mainly unmated. It is not known how and where a gyne settles down and how a new queenright nest or a new colony originates. The peculiar habit of alate gynes to walk along worker trails, although not reported in other studies, is a regular feature of the colonies studied by us in Poland. We suggest that its function is close-range dispersal, which in a network of intersecting trails belonging to different colonies might allow the gyne to cross colony boundaries. Mating and reproducing outside own natal colony would enhance outbreeding in a species inherently exposed to inbreeding. Long-range dispersal by flight would effectively lead to outbreeding, given that the gyne succeeds to mate and found a colony. This topic is still unstudied, and it seems that a deeper understanding of the colony dynamics and dispersal of D. quadripunctatus requires population-genetic studies of carefully mapped colonies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intricacies of the Biology of Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

et al. 2023

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“…This structure is caused by the small size of individual nest spaces which most often can harbour maximally several tens of individuals; the entire colony usually consists of several hundred, rarely over 1000 adults (Torossian 1960(Torossian , 1967aSeifert 2018). The scattered nest loci of the colony enable the species the following specific life-history features: (1) males arise only from eggs laid by workers; (2) worker oviposition is possible only away from the queen; (3) larvae can develop to gynes only without contact with the queen; (4) insemination of gynes frequently takes place inside or close to the nest; (5) to initiate a colony, the gyne needs to be adopted by queenless workers (Torossian 1967b(Torossian , 1968(Torossian , 1974Seifert 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alate gyne of the ant Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) follows foraging trail to aphids

Czechowski¹,

Trigos-Peral²,

Maák³

et al. 2019

JHR

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The first observation of alate gyne of Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) visiting aphids is described. A gyne walked along a foraging trail to the aphid Panaphis juglandis Goeze colony where it imbibed honeydew excreted on the leaf by the aphids, after which it returned to the trail. This recurred during two more days, always a single alate gyne at a time; hence the total number of gynes, one or more, remained open. The phenomenon, hitherto practically unknown in ants, is presented against the background of the biology of the species and discussed in the context of specific environmental circumstances and the colony dynamics.

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Pheromonal and behavioral queen control over the production of gynes in the Argentine ant Iridomyrmex humilis (Mayr)

Vargo

Passera

1991

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Both field observations and laboratory experiments have suggested that queens of I. humilis inhibit the production of new queens (gynes). Using small colony fragments, laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the means by which this inhibition is achieved. The addition of queen corpses to queenless fragments effectively inhibited the production of gynes, suggesting that a queen inhibitory primer pheromone is involved. This inhibitory influence was removed when corpses were washed in pentane, lending further support to the pheromonal hypothesis. Adult gynes (winged virgin queens) were not inhibitory, whereas young dealated mated queens of the same age were, suggesting that only inseminated queens produce the pheromone. Daily addition of eggs to queenless units did not appear to have a strong inhibitory influence, indicating that the lower worker/larva ratios associated with the presence of an egg-laying queen in such colony fragments does not greatly influence the production of sexuals. Pheromonal inhibition of gyne development appears to be achieved mainly by preventing the sexualization of bipotent female larvae, probably by affecting the brood-rearing behavior of workers. In addition, queens may also cause the execution of female larvae after they have become sexualized. In nearly all cases, the addition of a living queen to previously queenless units containing gyne larvae caused workers to execute one or more of these larvae within 24 h. In some cases queens were also seen attacking gyne larvae. The addition of queen corpses resulted in the execution of gyne larvae, suggesting that a queen pheromone mediates, at least in part, this execution behavior of workers. These results show that I. humiIis queens exert control over the production of gynes in two ways: (1) by preventing the sexualization of female larvae and (2) by killing female larvae after they have become sexualized. A queen primer phero-* Present address: mone appears to be involved in both processes. Queen behavior also plays a role, at least in the execution of gyne larvae. This queen control over the production of gynes, probably mostly pheromonal, appears to operate strongly in the field where gynes are produced only in spring just after a sharp drop in the inhibitory queen influence due to the massive execution of queens by the workers.

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Recherches sur la biologie et l'éthologie deDolichoderus Quadripunctatus (L) (Hym. Form. Dolichoderidæ)

Cited by 9 publications

References 4 publications

Intricacies of the Biology of Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Intricacies of the Biology of Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Alate gyne of the ant Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (L.) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) follows foraging trail to aphids

Pheromonal and behavioral queen control over the production of gynes in the Argentine ant Iridomyrmex humilis (Mayr)

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