Social Organization of Leptothorax Acervorum From Alaska (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Jürgen Heinze,Diethe Ortius

doi:10.1155/1991/21921

Abstract

Colonies of the holartic ant Leptothorax (s. str.) acervorum from Alaskan shrub tundra habitats are facultatively polygynous; however, aggression among female reproductives occurs and might occassionally lead to functional monogyny. High-ranking gynes are highly mobile and initiate attacks randomly, without having exact knowledge on the indentify of the opponent, but recognition of individual or rank specific characteristics appears to be involved in the continuation of assaults.

Highlights

Very few ant species live in subarctic and alpine biomes near the tree-line, and surprisingly little is known about how they succeed in these habitats under extremely adverse environmental conditions
It has been suggested that adoption of young queens, facultative polygyny, and colony budding might facilitate colony founding in areas with short summers and long winters (Heinze 1991)
Erect or semi-erect hairs are less abundant on scapes and legs of Alaskan L. acervorum than in specimens from Europe, but differ little from L. acervorum collected in Alaska by M.G

Summary

Introduction

Very few ant species live in subarctic and alpine biomes near the tree-line, and surprisingly little is known about how they succeed in these habitats under extremely adverse environmental conditions. Nests sampled in Furano in northern Japan, on the other hand, typically contained only one primary egg-layer, whereas additional inseminated gynes were ovipositing at a low rate or not at all (Ito 1990). This latter type of social organization, functional monogyny (Buschinger 1968), has been shown to result from aggressive competition among potential egg-layers in two other Leptothorax (s.str.) species (Heinze 1990, Heinze and Smith 1990, Heinze and Lipski 1990). Queens in polygynous nests of European L. acervorum do not show any overt antagonism towards each other (Bourke 1991)

Methods

Results

Conclusion