Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly
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Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly. / Sumner, Seirian; Hughes, William Owen Hamar; Pedersen, Jes Søe; Boomsma, Jacobus Jan.
In: Nature, Vol. 428, No. 6978, 2004, p. 35-36.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly
AU - Sumner, Seirian
AU - Hughes, William Owen Hamar
AU - Pedersen, Jes Søe
AU - Boomsma, Jacobus Jan
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - A parasitic ant has abandoned the multiple mating habit of the queens of its related host.Multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread among animal groups, particularly insects1. But the factors that maintain it and underlie its evolution are hard to verify because benefits and costs are not easily quantified and they tend to be similar in related species. Here we compare the mating strategies of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and its recently derived social parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, which is also its closest relative2 (see Fig. 1). We find that although the host queens mate with up to a dozen different males, the social parasite mates only singly. This rapid and surprising reversion to single mating in a socially parasitic ant indicates that the costs of polyandry are probably specific to a free-living lifestyle.
AB - A parasitic ant has abandoned the multiple mating habit of the queens of its related host.Multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread among animal groups, particularly insects1. But the factors that maintain it and underlie its evolution are hard to verify because benefits and costs are not easily quantified and they tend to be similar in related species. Here we compare the mating strategies of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and its recently derived social parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, which is also its closest relative2 (see Fig. 1). We find that although the host queens mate with up to a dozen different males, the social parasite mates only singly. This rapid and surprising reversion to single mating in a socially parasitic ant indicates that the costs of polyandry are probably specific to a free-living lifestyle.
U2 - 10.1038/428035a
DO - 10.1038/428035a
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 14999273
VL - 428
SP - 35
EP - 36
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 6978
ER -
ID: 106025