Interruption points in the wing gene regulatory network underlying wing polyphenism evolved independently in male and female morphs in Cardiocondyla ants.

Wing polyphenism in ants, which produces a winged female queen caste and a wingless female worker caste, evolved approximately 150 million years ago and has been key to the remarkable success of ants. Approximately 20 million years ago, the myrmicine ant genus Cardiocondyla evolved an additional wing polyphenism among males producing two male morphs: wingless males that fight to enhance mating success and winged males that disperse. Here we show that interruption of rudimentary wing-disc development in larvae of the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior occurs further downstream in the network in wingless males as compared with wingless female workers.