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How many gamergates is an ant queen worth?

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Abstract

Ant reproductives exhibit different morphological adaptations linked to dispersal and fertility. By reviewing the literature on taxa where workers can reproduce sexually (i.e. become gamergates) we show that (1) species with a single gamergate generally have lost the winged queen caste, whereas only half of the species with several gamergates have, and (2) single-gamergate species have smaller colonies than multiple-gamergate species. Comparison with “classical” ants without gamergates, where having one vs having several winged queens are two distinct syndromes, suggests that having one vs having several gamergates are not. Gamergate number does not affect the success of colony fission, but retention of the queen caste permits the option of independent foundation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Claudie Doums, Fuminori Ito and Jürgen Heinze for constructive discussions and comments, as well as two anonymous referees for useful suggestions.

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  1. Fonctionnement et évolution des systèmes écologiques CNRS UMR 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai Saint Bernard, 75005, Paris, France

    Thibaud Monnin & Christian Peeters

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  1. Thibaud Monnin
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  2. Christian Peeters
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Correspondence to Thibaud Monnin.

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Monnin, T., Peeters, C. How many gamergates is an ant queen worth?. Naturwissenschaften 95, 109–116 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0297-0

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