We examined the effect of queen size on the probability of new colony establishment in the ant Pogonomyrmex occidentalis. Large queens are significantly more likely to survive than small queens through the initial stages of colony founding. These differences in individual fitness correlates have corresponding effects on colony fitness. In species in which individual queens vary in fitness, sexual allocation ratios should incorporate the individual fitness functions.
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Evolution
Vol. 57 • No. 9
September 2003
Vol. 57 • No. 9
September 2003
ants
colony fitness
Pogonomyrmex
reproductive allocation
selection