Morphological variability of intercastes in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi: pattern of trait expression and modularity

Abstract

Ants have distinct morphological castes (queens and workers), but aberrant queen-worker “intercastes” occasionally occur, both in wild and laboratory conditions. Intercastes are rare, however, such novel phenotypes may have evolutionary significance. Their morphology is highly variable in any given species, providing valuable information about the integration of queen traits (e.g. ocelli, wings, complex segmentation of thorax, large gaster and ovaries, spermatheca). Generally, these traits are all diminished or absent in workers. We used multivariate morphometry to analyze an exceptionally large sample of 101 intercastes of Temnothorax nylanderi. We determined distributions and correlations of traits, and confirmed the mosaic nature of intercastes. Queen-specific traits are not expressed coherently in intercastes, but the possible patterns of trait combination are limited. A large number of small-sized intercastes had disproportionately larger head, ocelli and gaster but smaller thorax. In contrast, queen-like growth of thorax and rudimentary wings only occurred in large-sized intercastes. This is the most comprehensive analysis of intercaste variability, and suggests the existence of constraints on recombination of caste-specific modular traits.