Sexual reproduction by both queens and workers in the ponerine ant Harpegnathos saltator
Sexual reproduction by both queens and workers in the ponerine ant Harpegnathos saltator
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DOI：
10.1007/pl00001724
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发表时间：
2000-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Hölldobler, B
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Peeters, C;Liebig, J;Hölldobler, B
工蚁通常是生殖退化的雌性，但在一些亚科的蚁中，工蚁可以像蚁后一样交配和产卵（它们被称为“gamergates”）。在Harpegnathos saltator中，新的殖民地由单个女王独立建立，当它们衰老时，它们被几个gamergates取代。这种次级一夫多妻制有三个特点：（1）行为数据表明，年轻的工蜂与它们的兄弟交配，而不像蚁后那样在巢穴外分散交配;（2）gamergate殖民地每年都会产生雄性和雌性的性伴侣;（3）gamergate殖民地似乎不会分裂。我们的证据是间接的：跳蚁H的巢穴对于庞特蚁来说异常精致，而加马盖特蚁群产生了许多年轻的蚁后（以牺牲对工蚁的投资为代价）。女王取代的结果在殖民地寿命的延长，从而使复杂的建设可能与一个小的殖民地规模（65 +/- 40工人在西高止山脉人口; N = 59）。反过来，这些巢穴代表了一种宝贵的资源，可以由后代的工人继承。这种生活史与其他既有蚁后又有配子的ponceptiant形成对比（例如，在Rhytidoponera confusa中，巢简单且寿命短，配子不是近亲繁殖的，它们的殖民地可以分裂，同时产生大多数雄性; Ward，1981 a，1983 a）。
Ant workers are very often reproductively degenerate females, but in some species from subfamily Ponerinae, the workers can mate and lay fertilized eggs just like queens (they are then termed "gamergates"). In Harpegnathos saltator; new colonies are founded independently by single queens, and when senescent they are replaced by several gamergates. This secondary polygyny is distinguished by three features: (1) behavioural data indicate that young workers copulate with their brothers, unlike the queens who disperse and mate outside the nests; (2) gamergate colonies produce both male and female sexuals annually; (3) gamergate colonies appear not to fission. Our evidence for the lack of fission is indirect: the nests of H, saltator are unusually elaborate for ponerine ants, and gamergate colonies produce many young queens (at the expense of investing in workers). Queen supersedure results in an extension of colony lifespan, thus making complex constructions possible with a small colony size (65 +/- 40 workers in a western Ghats population; N = 59). In turn, these nests represent a valuable resource to be inherited by successive generations of worker offspring. This life history contrasts with that of other ponerine ants having both queens and gamergates (e.g, in Rhytidoponera confusa, nests are simple and short-lived, gamergates are not inbred and their colonies can fission while producing mostly males; Ward, 1981a, 1983a).