EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF DIMORPHIC MALES IN ANTS.

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1) Spermatogenesis of diploid males in the formicine ant Lasius sakagamii: In the formicine ant Lasius sakagamii, 6 out of 30 studied colonies (20%) contained many diploid males. Although the body size of diploid males is larger than that of haploid ones on average, the former showed normal external and internal morphology. In the spermatogenesis, no reduction in chromosome numbers was observed in either diploid males or haploid ones. Moreover, the DNA quantity of diploid males measured by flowcytemetry was twice that of haploid ones, clearly indicating that diploid males produce diploid sperm.2) Molecular phylogeny of the mirmicine ant genus Vollenhovia: Molecular phylogenetic relationships of the ant genus Vollenhovia in Asia were analyzed based on the DNA sequence of the mitochondrial cytocrome oxidase I and II gene. As a result, 7 Japan-Korean species and 6 Indonesian species were classified into a monophyletic group, respectively. Three species whose queens are ergatoid have a closely related species whose queens are winged, which suggested that ergatoid queens have independently evolved three times. A socially parasitic species V. nipponica is closely related to its host species, V. emeryi (short-winged queen type). This result supports the Emery's role.3) Reproductive strategies of the myrmicine ant genus Cardiocondyla: The firstly emerged queens remained in the mother nests after intranidal mating. The later-emerged queens flew out of the nest also after intranidal mating. On the other hand, virgin queens never flew out the nest. Ergatoid males lived for ca. 40 days on average. They continued sperm production and insemination during this period.