Small queens in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: a new case of social parasitism

Hora, Riviane R.; Doums, Claudie; Poteaux, Chantal; Fénéron, Renée; Valenzuela, Jorge; Heınze, Jürgen; Fresneau, Dominique

doi:10.1007/s00265-005-0040-9

Cited by 25 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Moreover, despite ongoing limited gene flow between inquiline and host, another inquiline ant using Ectatomma tuberculatum as host was recently assessed to be a distinct species, based on population-level genetic differentiation between the morphs (microsatellite F ST = 0.45; Hora et al, 2005), similar to what we report in the present study. Finally, the wood ants Formica rufa and F. polyctena, which are considered good ''biological'' species (but see Vepsäläinen and Pisarski, 1981), show relatively weak genetic differentiation (pairwise F ST = 0.101-0.179) based on reduced gene flow between populations on a scale of B50 km (Gyllenstrand et al, 2004).…”

Section: Species Status Of the Inquiline Morph Of Myrmica Rubrasupporting

confidence: 78%

Genetic differentiation between the ant Myrmica rubra and its microgynous social parasite

et al. 2009

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Hymenopteran inquiline species have been proposed to originate by sympatric speciation through intraspecific social parasitism. One such parasite, Myrmica microrubra, was recently synonymized with its Myrmica rubra host, because comparisons across Europe indicated insufficient genetic differentiation. Here, we use microsatellite markers to study genetic differentiation more precisely in a sample of Finnish M. rubra and its inquilines collected at two localities, supplemented with mitochondrial DNA sequences. The parasite had much lower genetic variation than the host at three of the four loci studied. Genetic differentiation between the host populations was moderate (F ST = 0.089), whereas the parasite populations were more strongly subdivided (F ST = 0.440). The host and parasite were highly genetically differentiated both across populations (F ST = 0.346) and in strict sympatry (0.327, 0.364), a result that remained robust both in a haplotype network and in PCA ordination. Individual assignments of genotypes indicated that gene flow between sympatric host and inquiline populations is reduced by about an order of magnitude relative to the gene flow within the morphs. Our results suggest that the parasitic morph of M. rubra may be an incipient species, but it remains unclear to what extent the observed genetic differentiation between host and inquiline is due to possible assortative mating and selection against hybrids or to recurrent bottlenecking and genetic drift. We conclude that an explicitly functional species concept would be unambiguous in treating this inquiline as a full species, as it begets its own kind and maintains its integrity in spite of occasional interbreeding with the host.

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Section: Species Status Of the Inquiline Morph Of Myrmica Rubrasupporting

confidence: 78%

Genetic differentiation between the ant Myrmica rubra and its microgynous social parasite

et al. 2009

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“…The dimorphism in Polyrhachis robsoni is thus similar to other ant species with dimorphic queens such as Myrmica rubra (Steiner et al, 2006), Myrmica ruginodis (Elms cited by Rüppell and Heinze (1999), Temnothorax cf. andrei (Rüppell et al, 2001a), T. rugatulus (Rüppell et al, 2001b), and Ectatomma ruidum (Lachaud et al, 1999), and is not a case of separate reproductive communities as in E. tuberculatum (Hora et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social and genetic structure of a supercolonial weaver ant, Polyrhachis robsoni, with dimorphic queens

et al. 2007

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We studied a population of the Australian weaver ant Polyrachis robsoni with regard to variation in the morphology of its winged queens using six newlydeveloped microsatellite markers. Morphometrically the queens fell clearly into two groups, macrogynes and microgynes, with the latter an isometric reduction of the former. Aggression tests showed that hostility between ants from different nests was minimal. Nests frequently contained numbers of both queen types, with microgynes about twice as numerous as macrogynes. Nestmate workers, microgynes, and macrogynes, were significantly related to others within their caste, with macrogynes more highly related than the other castes. Relatedness values between these groups of nestmates were also significant. Pairwise relatedness values were consistent with both queen morphs producing workers. At the population level, microgynes from different nests were also significantly related and there was a weak inverse relationship between pairwise relatedness value between individuals and distance between nests. We conclude that this species is supercolonial and that the two queen morphs are part of the same population.

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“…Evidence for this conflict between workers and larvae first came from parasitic ants. Parasitic queens are generally smaller than their host queens, thus reducing the power of host workers to limit their production (Nonacs and Tobin 1992;Aron et al 1999;Hora et al 2005). Recently, a selfish larval strategy has been proposed in the stingless bee Schwarziana quadripunctata (Ratnieks 2001;Wenseleers et al 2003but Jarau et al 2010.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of worker–queen polymorphism in Cataglyphis ants: interplay between individual- and colony-level selections

Amor

Ortega

Jowers

et al. 2011

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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In many ants, young queens disperse by flying away from their natal nest and found new colonies alone (independent colony founding, ICF). Alternatively, in some species, ICF was replaced by colony fission, in which young queens accompanied by workers found a new colony at walking distance from the mother nest. We compared the queen morphology of Cataglyphis floricola, which disperses by fission, with that of its most likely living ancestor, Cataglyphis emmae, which disperses by ICF. As in other species, the transition from ICF to fission is associated with queen miniaturization. Interestingly, C. floricola presents two types of small queens: brachypters (with short nonfunctional wings) and ergatoids (worker-like apterous queens). Ergatoids are, on average, 2.8 mg lighter and have half the number of ovarioles than brachypters, which limits the advantage for a colony to produce ergatoids instead of brachypters. Furthermore, more ergatoids are produced than brachypters, but their individual survival rate is lower. During colony fission, 96% of the cocoons containing brachypters but only 31% of those containing ergatoids are transferred to the daughter nests where, after emergence, they compete for becoming the next queen. The remaining queen cocoons, which stay in the mother queen's nest, are eliminated by workers upon emergence, probably to maintain monogyny. This waste of energy suggests that producing ergatoids instead of brachypters is unlikely to increase colony efficiency. We argue that the evolution of ergatoids could derive from a selfish larval strategy, developing into worker-like queens in spite of the colony interest.

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Small queens in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: a new case of social parasitism

Cited by 25 publications

References 39 publications

Genetic differentiation between the ant Myrmica rubra and its microgynous social parasite

Genetic differentiation between the ant Myrmica rubra and its microgynous social parasite

Social and genetic structure of a supercolonial weaver ant, Polyrhachis robsoni, with dimorphic queens

The evolution of worker–queen polymorphism in Cataglyphis ants: interplay between individual- and colony-level selections

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