Evidence that queens do not influence nestmate recognition in Argentine ants

Abstract

Introduced populations of many invasive ants exhibit low levels of intraspecific aggression. Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), for example, maintain expansive supercolonies in many parts of their introduced range. Recent studies demonstrate that variation in nestmate recognition in L. humile can derive from both environmental and genetic sources. In some ants, pheromones emitted by queens also influence nestmate-recognition behavior. To test if such a phenomenon occurs in Argentine ants, we examined whether levels of intraspecific aggression vary as a function of queen presence or absence in experimental lab colonies. For each of four known supercolonies from southwestern California, we set up a pair of experimental colonies and randomly assigned replicates within each pair to treatment (queen removal) and control (no queen removal) groups. Using two different behavioral assays, we then measured aggressive behavior for ten days, removed queens from colonies in the treatment group, and continued to monitor aggression in both experimental groups for an additional 65 days. Both assays yielded qualitatively similar results: intraspecific aggression remained high throughout the experiment in both experimental groups. These results suggest that L. humile queens fail to influence levels of intraspecific aggression in introduced populations.