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Polygyny in the nest-site limited acacia-ant Crematogaster mimosae

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Abstract

Polygyny is common in social insects despite inevitable decreases in nestmate relatedness and reductions to the inclusive fitness returns for cooperating non-reproductive individuals. We studied the prevalence and mode of polygyny in the African acacia-ant Crematogaster mimosae. These ants compete intensively with neighboring colonies of conspecifics and with three sympatric ant species for resources associated with the whistling-thorn acacias in which they all obligately nest. We used the genotypes of alate males at ten microsatellite loci to reconstruct queen genotypes and found that C. mimosae colonies are frequently secondarily polygynous, in that they include multiple closely related (and sometimes full-sib) queens, and (more rarely) unrelated queens. We also found that individual queens in both monogynous and polygynous colonies had mated with multiple males, making C. mimosae an interesting example of simultaneous polygyny and polyandry. The presence of polygyny in C. mimosae and the intense competition for nest-sites between C. mimosae and its conspecifics support the association between nest-site limitation and polygyny. Polygyny may allow for increased worker populations and a competitive advantage, as inter-colony conflicts are typically won by the colony with the larger number of workers.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Amanda Talaba, John Lemboi, and Rafael Eraguy for collecting ants. The staff and administration at Mpala Research Centre provided excellent logistical support. Chris Makarewich, Amanda Talaba, Doug Morin and Laura Stenzler provided assistance and consultation in the lab. We thank Stefanie Kautz, Corrie Moreau, Max Winston, Wes Hochachka and two anonymous reviewers for suggestions on previous versions of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Explorer’s Club, the Bartels Scholars fund, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Hughes Scholars program and by National Science Foundation grants DEB-0089706 and DEB-0444741 to T.M.P. and M.L.S. This research was carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology of the Republic of Kenya (Permit number MOEST 13/001/34 17).

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  1. B. E. R. Rubin

    Present address: Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    B. E. R. Rubin & I. J. Lovette

  2. MIT Operations Research Center, Cambridge, MA, USA

    R. M. Anderson

  3. Department of Computer Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    D. Kennedy

  4. Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    T. M. Palmer

  5. Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    M. L. Stanton

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Correspondence to B. E. R. Rubin.

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Rubin, B.E.R., Anderson, R.M., Kennedy, D. et al. Polygyny in the nest-site limited acacia-ant Crematogaster mimosae . Insect. Soc. 60, 231–241 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-013-0287-5

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