Abstract
The pervasive social and ecological differences between ant colonies that have a single queen and those that have multiple queens are defined. The evolutionary tendencies which lead to polygyny and the adaptive significance of multiple queens are examined. The discussion of the ecological consequences of polygyny and monogyny leads to a deeper understanding of territoriality, spacing and species packing in ants.
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Dedicated to Professor Dr. Karl von Frisch on the occasion of his 90th birthday
The preparation of this article, and some of original research reported in it, has been supported by National Science Foundation Grants Nos. BMS75-06447 and BNS73-00889.
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Hölldobler, B., Wilson, E.O. The number of queens: An important trait in ant evolution. Naturwissenschaften 64, 8–15 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439886
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439886