BioOne.org will be down briefly for maintenance on 17 December 2024 between 18:00-22:00 Pacific Time US. We apologize for any inconvenience.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 June 2009 Dynamics and Genetic Structure of Argentine Ant Supercolonies in Their Native Range
Valérie Vogel, Jes S. Pedersen, Patrizia d'Ettorre, Laurent Lehmann, Laurent Keller
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Some introduced ant populations have an extraordinary social organization, called unicoloniality, whereby individuals mix freely within large supercolonies. We investigated whether this mode of social organization also exists in native populations of the Argentine ant Linepithema humile. Behavioral analyses revealed the presence of 11 supercolonies (width 1 to 515 m) over a 3-km transect. As in the introduced range, there was always strong aggression between but never within supercolonies. The genetic data were in perfect agreement with the behavioral tests, all nests being assigned to identical supercolonies with the different methods. There was strong genetic differentiation between supercolonies but no genetic differentiation among nests within supercolonies. We never found more than a single mitochondrial haplotype per supercolony, further supporting the view that supercolonies are closed breeding units. Genetic and chemical distances between supercolonies were positively correlated, but there were no other significant associations between geographic, genetic, chemical, and behavioral distances. A comparison of supercolonies sampled in 1999 and 2005 revealed a very high turnover, with about one-third of the supercolonies being replaced yearly. This dynamic is likely to involve strong competition between supercolonies and thus act as a potent selective force maintaining unicoloniality over evolutionary time.

© 2009 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
Valérie Vogel, Jes S. Pedersen, Patrizia d'Ettorre, Laurent Lehmann, and Laurent Keller "Dynamics and Genetic Structure of Argentine Ant Supercolonies in Their Native Range," Evolution 63(6), 1627-1639, (1 June 2009). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00628.x
Received: 1 May 2008; Accepted: 1 November 2008; Published: 1 June 2009
JOURNAL ARTICLE
13 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
Linepithema humile
social evolution
social insects
supercolonies
unicoloniality
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top