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Small queens in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: a new case of social parasitism

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Abstract

Social parasites exploit the worker force of colonies of other social insects to rear their own young. Social parasitism occurs in several Hymenoptera and is particularly common in several tribes of the ant subfamilies Myrmicinae and Formicinae. Here, we document the occurrence of miniaturized queens (microgynes) in colonies of Ectatomma tuberculatum, an ant belonging to the subfamily Ectatomminae. Behavioral observations and genetic analyses show that microgynes concentrate their reproductive efforts almost exclusively on the production of sexual offspring (microgynes and males), whereas the regular, large queens (macrogynes) produce workers in addition to sexuals. According to mitochondrial and nuclear markers, gene flow between microgynes and macrogynes is extremely limited. Whereas the co-occurrence of microgynes and macrogynes in the related species Ectatomma ruidum constitutes an intraspecific polymorphism associated with alternative dispersal tactics, microgynes found in colonies of E. tuberculatum appear to be a distinct species and to represent the first case of social parasitism in the poneromorph subfamilies of ants.

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Acknowledgements

We are particularly grateful to R. Blatrix and anonymous referees for their invaluable comments on the manuscript. We also thank C. Alaux, E. Baudry, D. Denis, and A. Pezon for their helpful comments and English revision. We acknowledge M. Favila (INECOL, Mexico) for providing facilities during our fieldwork, and Emilio, Gregorio, C. Rojas, A. Wolf, and K. Wolf for the technical supports in the field as well as M. Richard and B. Viginier for support during the molecular biology work. The project was partly financed by BRI (Université Paris-Nord) and ACI 2001 (No 5183). R. R. Hora received financial support from CAPES, Brazil, Project CAPES/COFECUB No 244/98-II. This work was conducted under Mexico and France legal requirements.

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  1. Riviane R. Hora

    Present address: Laboratório de Mirmecologia, Centro de Pesquisas do Cacau, C.P.7, 45600-000, Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée (CNRS UMR 7153), Université Paris-Nord, 99 Avenue J.-B. Clément, 93430, Villetaneuse, France

    Riviane R. Hora, Chantal Poteaux, Renée Fénéron & Dominique Fresneau

  2. E.P.H.E., Laboratoire Fonctionnement et Evolution des Systèmes Ecologiques (UMR 7625), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005, Paris, France

    Claudie Doums

  3. Instituto de Ecologia, A. C., Km 2.5 antigua carretera a Coatepec A. P. 63, Xalapa, 91000, Veracruz, Mexico

    Jorge Valenzuela

  4. Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, D-93040, Regensburg, Germany

    Jürgen Heinze

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  1. Riviane R. Hora
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Correspondence to Riviane R. Hora.

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Communicated by L. Keller

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Hora, R.R., Doums, C., Poteaux, C. et al. Small queens in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum: a new case of social parasitism. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 59, 285–292 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0040-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0040-9

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