Population Structure and Social Organization in the Primitive Ant Amblyopone Pallipes (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The genus Amblyopone contains the most morphologically and behaviorally primitive species in the poneroid complex of ants, and a detailed examination of their social structure could significantly contribute to the reconstruction of social evolution in the Formicidae. But because of their cryptic habits and distribution, the biology of the majority of species of Amblyopone and the related genera Mystrium, Myopopone, Prionopelta, and Onychomyrmex remains almost entirely unknown. Previous investigations have provided information on colony foundation (Haskins, 1928; Haskins and Enzmann, 1938; Haskins and Haskins, 1951), ecology, behavior, and taxonomy (Wheeler, 1900; Brown, 1960; Gotwald and Levieux, 1972; Baroni Urbani, 1978), and physiology (Whelden, 1958). Still, many of the details of social organization in Amblyopone are lacking. present in this paper the results of a two-year study on the behavior and ecology of Amblyopone pallipes.