Summary
Colonial growth and development of a bamboo carpenter antCamponotus kiusiuensis was studied both by cultivation in the laboratory and by regular sampling in bamboo thickets. The mean mortality of immatures was 44.9±SD 7.5% during claustral colony foundation by a queen: 25.3±8.1% in eggs, 19.4±9.9% in larvae, 3.9±6.3% in prepupae and 4.2±5.6% in pupae. Although the first workers were monomorphic, polymorphism was developed by an increase in larger workers with the growth of colony, achieving the full variation of worker size at population level of about 100 adults. Well-developed colonies were monogynous and polydomous. Queenless satellite nests were most abundant in the autumn to winter, unlike hitherto studied polydomous ants which usually show the peak of nest density in the summer, suggesting that the dead bamboos limited nest space. The scale of polydomy was remarkably dependent on the population size of the colony. Although the alates were more abundant in queenless nests than in queenright nests, the negative effect of queens on the production was not so strong as in the species hitherto reported.
Resume
La croissance et le développement des colonies de la fourmi «charpentière du bambou».Camponotus kiusiuensis ont été étudiés par élevage en laboratoire et par échantillonage régulier dans les forêts de bambous. La mortalité moyenne sur l'ensemble des formes immatures a été de 44,9±SD 7,5% pendant la fondation claustrale de la colonie par la reine: 25,3±8,1% parmi les œufs, 14,1±7,8% parmi les larves, 3.9±6.3% parmi les prénymphes et 4.2±5.6% parmi les nymphes. Si le monorphisme est de règle chez les premières ouvrières, le polymorphisme devient plus marqué parallèlement à la croissance de la colonie et à l'augmentation du nombre de grandes ouvrières jusqu'à ce que l'on atteigne la distribution typique des colonies adultes à partir d'une population de 100 adultes. Les colonies bien développées sont monogynes et polycaliques. Les nids satellites sans femelle sont plus abondants en automne qu'en hiver, contrairement aux nids polycaliques étudiés antérieurement montrant habituellement une augmentation de la densité en nids durant l'été. Ceci suggère que les bambous morts offrent un espace limite de nidification et que le polycalisme est remarquablement dépendant de la taille de population des colonies. Bien que les fourmis ailées soient plus abondantes dans les nids sans reines que dans les nids avec reines, l'effet négatif de la reine sur la production des sexués ne semble pas aussi fort que pour les espèces étudiées auparavant.
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Ito, F., Higashi, S. & Maeta, Y. Growth and development ofCamponotus (Paramyrmamblys) kiusiuensis Santschi colonies (Hym. Formicidae). Ins. Soc 35, 251–261 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02224058
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02224058