Premium
QUEEN SIZE MEDIATES QUEEN SURVIVAL AND COLONY FITNESS IN HARVESTER ANTS
Author(s) -
Wiernasz Diane C.,
Cole Blaine J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2003.tb00396.x
Subject(s) - biology , queen (butterfly) , genetic fitness , ecology , zoology , hymenoptera , biological evolution , genetics
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.