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Small queens and big-headed workers in a monomorphic ponerine ant

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Abstract

Evolution of caste is a central issue in the biology of social insects. Comparative studies on their morphology so far suggest the following three patterns: (1) a positive correlation between queen–worker size dimorphism and the divergence in reproductive ability between castes, (2) a negative correlation among workers between morphological diversity and reproductive ability, and (3) a positive correlation between queen–worker body shape difference and the diversity in worker morphology. We conducted morphological comparisons between castes in Pachycondyla luteipes, workers of which are monomorphic and lack their reproductive ability. Although the size distribution broadly overlapped, mean head width, head length, and scape length were significantly different between queens and workers. Conversely, in eye length, petiole width, and Weber’s length, the size differences were reversed. The allometries (head length/head width, scape length/head width, and Weber’s length/head width) were also significantly different between queens and workers. Morphological examinations showed that the body shape was different between queens and workers, and the head part of workers was disproportionately larger than that of queens. This pattern of queen–worker dimorphism is novel in ants with monomorphic workers and a clear exception to the last pattern. This study suggests that it is possible that the loss of individual-level selection, the lack of reproductive ability, influences morphological modification in ants.

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Acknowledgments

We thank T. Miura and S. Koshikawa for helpful advice and M. Suwabe for assistance with the field work. This work was supported in part by grants-in-aid from the Japan Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (17207003 to S. Higashi and 17657029, 18370012 and 18047017 to K. Tsuji) and Research Fellowships for Young Scientists from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to T. Kikuchi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

    Tomonori Kikuchi

  2. Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan

    Satoshi Miyazaki

  3. Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

    Hitoshi Ohnishi, Yumiko Nakajima & Kazuki Tsuji

  4. Honeybee Science Research Center, Tamagawa University, Tokyo, Japan

    Junichi Takahashi

Authors
  1. Tomonori Kikuchi
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  2. Satoshi Miyazaki
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  3. Hitoshi Ohnishi
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  4. Junichi Takahashi
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  5. Yumiko Nakajima
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  6. Kazuki Tsuji
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Correspondence to Tomonori Kikuchi.

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Kikuchi, T., Miyazaki, S., Ohnishi, H. et al. Small queens and big-headed workers in a monomorphic ponerine ant. Naturwissenschaften 95, 963–968 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0414-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0414-8

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