Multiple Convergent Origins of Workerlessness and Inbreeding in the Socially Parasitic Ant Genus Myrmoxenus.

The socially parasitic ant genus Myrmoxenus varies strongly in fundamental life history traits, such as queen-worker ratio, the timing of sexual production, and mating behavior. Myrmoxenus queens generally take over nests of Temnothorax ants, kill the resident queen by throttling, and force the workers to take care of the social parasite's brood. Young queens of M.

Queen dominance and worker policing control reproduction in a threatened ant.

Background: Efficient division of reproductive labor is a crucial characteristic of social insects and underlies their ecological and evolutionary success. Despite of the harmonious appearance of insect societies, nestmates may have different interests concerning the partitioning of reproduction among group members. This may lead to conflict about reproductive rights.

Morphology and ultrastructure of a specialized bacterial pouch in the digestive tract of Tetraponera ants (Formicidae, Pseudomyrmecinae).

The digestive tract in workers of some species of the pseudomyrmecine ant genus Tetraponera is characterized by a conspicuous pear-shaped diverticulum at the transition between the midgut and the intestine, that so far has not been found in any other ant species. As this organ is filled with a mass of bacteria, we propose to designate it as a bacterial pouch. Its distal wall is formed by a thin ectodermal epithelium, through which tens of tracheal branches penetrate into the bacterial mass that fills the pouch lumen.

Abandoning aggression but maintaining self-nonself discrimination as a first stage in ant supercolony formation.

An ant supercolony is a very large entity with very many queens. Although normal colonies of small extent and few queens remain distinct, a supercolony is integrated harmoniously over a large area [1, 2]. The lack of aggression is advantageous: Aggression is costly, involving direct and indirect losses and recognition errors [3, 4].

No sympatric speciation here: multiple data sources show that the ant Myrmica microrubra is not a separate species but an alternate reproductive morph of Myrmica rubra.

No aspect of speciation is as controversial as the view that new species can evolve sympatrically, among populations in close physical contact. Social parasitism has been suggested to yield necessary disruptive selection for sympatric speciation. Recently, mitochondrial DNA phylogeography has shown that the ant Myrmica microrubra is closely related to its host, Myrmica rubra, leading to the suggestion that sympatric speciation has occurred.