Do army ant queens re-mate later in life?

Department of Biology

Do army ant queens re-mate later in life?

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Do army ant queens re-mate later in life? / Kronauer, D. J.C.; Boomsma, J. J.

In: Insectes Sociaux, Vol. 54, No. 1, 02.2007, p. 20-28.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Kronauer, DJC & Boomsma, JJ 2007, 'Do army ant queens re-mate later in life?', Insectes Sociaux, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-007-0904-2

APA

Kronauer, D. J. C., & Boomsma, J. J. (2007). Do army ant queens re-mate later in life? Insectes Sociaux, 54(1), 20-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-007-0904-2

Vancouver

Kronauer DJC, Boomsma JJ. Do army ant queens re-mate later in life? Insectes Sociaux. 2007 Feb;54(1):20-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-007-0904-2

Author

Kronauer, D. J.C. ; Boomsma, J. J. / Do army ant queens re-mate later in life?. In: Insectes Sociaux. 2007 ; Vol. 54, No. 1. pp. 20-28.

Bibtex

@article{92bc55a6ddaa4aeca71fca8e709c14fb,

title = "Do army ant queens re-mate later in life?",

abstract = "Queens of eusocial Hymenoptera are inseminated only during a brief period before they start to lay eggs. This has probably been kin-selected because repeated insemination of old queens would normally be against the inclusive fitness interest of their daughter workers. Army ants have been considered to be the only possible exception to this rule due to their idiosyncratic life-history. We studied two distantly related species of army ants, the African Dorylus (Anomma) molestus and the Neotropical Eciton burchellii and present data from microsatellite genotyping, behavioural observations and sperm counts.We also describe the copulation behaviour of African army ants for the first time. Our results strongly suggest that, contradictory to earlier contentions, army ant queens do not mate repeatedly throughout their life and thus do not constitute an exception among the eusocial Hymenoptera in this respect. Sperm counts for males and queens of both species show that army ant queens have to mate with several males to become fully inseminated. However, sperm limitation by queens is unlikely to have been the prime reason for the evolution of high queen-mating frequencies in this group.",

keywords = "Copulation, Dorylus, Eciton, Kin selection, Sperm storage",

author = "Kronauer, {D. J.C.} and Boomsma, {J. J.}",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to Edith Rodr{\'i}guez and John Lattke for their help and participation in organizing and conducting research in Venezuela and to the staff of the Estaci{\'o}n Biol{\'o}gica Rancho Grande and the Museo del Instituto de Zoolog{\'i}a Agr{\'i}cola in Maracay for their hospitality and support. For help during fieldwork in Kenya we thank Caspar Sch{\c c}ning, Mwenda Tiraka and Washington Njagi. We thank the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for granting research permission. Boris Baer and Sophie Armitage gave advice on sperm counting and comments by Caspar Sch{\c c}ning, Edith Rodr{\'i}guez and two anonymous reviewers considerably improved the final version of the manuscript. Financial support has been provided by grants from the Danish Research Training Council to DJCK and the Danish National Research Foundation to JJB.",

year = "2007",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1007/s00040-007-0904-2",

language = "English",

volume = "54",

pages = "20--28",

journal = "Insectes Sociaux",

issn = "0020-1812",

publisher = "Springer Basel AG",

number = "1",