Abstract
A sex-ratio bias was studied in alates of natural polygyne colonies of Solenopsis invicta Buren in southern China. The results showed that at the population level, the numbers of male and female alates were nearly equal, even though there was a strong bias toward producing one particular sex at the nest level. For example, 88.89% of the nests sampled were strongly biased toward males or females. In particular, three bias types were observed: extreme female bias, extreme male bias, and a moderate bias. Future studies should address the factors that lead queens to produce strongly biased sex ratios.
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This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program, China (No. 2009CB119200) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 9451064201003773).
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Ye, J.W., Lu, Y.Y., Xu, Y.J. et al. Sex-Ratio Bias in Alates of Polygyne Colonies of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in China. J Insect Behav 23, 396–404 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-010-9222-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-010-9222-z