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The reproductive potential of workers in slave-making ants

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Summary

Colonies of slave-making ants have been used repeatedly to test sex allocation theory. It was suggested that workers of slave-making ants are more strongly selected to reproduce than workers of related, non-parasitic species, because they are incapable of manipulating sex allocation and the sexualization of larvae in their colonies. I show here that in slave-making Formicoxenini, worker ovaries on average consist of significantly more ovarioles than in non-parasiticLeptothorax species. Similarly, whereas in mostLeptothorax species, workers form reproductive hierarchies and lay eggs only in orphaned colonies, slave-maker workers show antagonistic interactions already in the presence of the queen and at least in some species have been observed ovipositing in queen-right colonies. The significance of these results is discussed.

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  1. Lehrstuhl Verhaltensphysiologie und Soziobiologie, Theodor-Boveri-Institut (Biozentrum der Universität), D-97074, Am Hubland, Würzburg, Germany

    J. Heinze

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Heinze, J. The reproductive potential of workers in slave-making ants. Ins. Soc 43, 319–328 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01242933

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