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Two independent mechanisms of egg recognition in worker Formica fusca ants

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Abstract

Informational constraints can be an important limitation on the accuracy of recognition. One potential constraint is the use of recognition information from the same sources in multiple discriminatory contexts. Worker wood ants, Formica fusca, discriminate eggs based on their maternal sources of origin in two main contexts: recognition of eggs laid by nestmate versus non-nestmate queens and recognition of worker-laid versus queen-laid eggs. We manipulated the experience of F. fusca workers in laboratory colonies to both worker-laid and queen-laid eggs by transferring eggs between colonies in order to investigate whether these two contexts of egg discrimination are independent. Experience of non-nestmate queen-laid eggs significantly increased worker acceptance of both familiar (18% accepted) and unfamiliar (10%) queen-laid eggs compared to control workers without experience of eggs other than those laid by their own colony’s queen (2%). In contrast, worker acceptance of worker-laid eggs was not affected by variation in the egg experience of workers (14% in workers from control colonies exposed only to eggs from their own colony’s queen versus 19% and 17% in workers from colonies which had received eggs laid by either a non-nestmate queen or nestmate workers, respectively). Our results suggest that these two recognition contexts do not strongly constrain each other and are different in their ontogeny. In particular, worker-laid eggs are universally discriminated against by workers from colonies with a queen whatever the egg experience of the workers, while non-nestmate queen-laid eggs are strongly discriminated against only by workers without experience of eggs laid by more than one queen.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Anton Chernenko, Sedeer El-Showk, Lea Heikkinen and Hannele Luhtasela for help in fieldwork, Bob O’Hara for statistical advice, Lotta Sundström and Stephen J. Martin for discussions and Kevin Foster, Stu West and anonymous referees for comments on the manuscript. HH was funded by The Academy of Finland (grant numbers 213821, 121078). The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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  1. Heikki Helanterä

    Present address: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, S10 2TN, UK

    Heikki Helanterä & Francis L. W. Ratnieks

  2. Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK

    Heikki Helanterä & Francis L. W. Ratnieks

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  1. Heikki Helanterä
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  2. Francis L. W. Ratnieks
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Correspondence to Heikki Helanterä.

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Communicated by L. Keller

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Helanterä, H., Ratnieks, F.L.W. Two independent mechanisms of egg recognition in worker Formica fusca ants. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63, 573–580 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0692-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0692-3

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