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Brood care strategies by newly mated monogyne Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) queens during colony founding
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2002
Abstract
For most species of ants, newly mated queens found new colonies from stored body reserves, and without the assistance of workers. Consequently, until the first batch of colony members hatches, newly mated queens face a potential shortage of labor for brood care. The purpose of this study was to describe the brood rearing strategies of newly mated monogyne Solenopsis invicta queens, under controlled laboratory conditions, to determine how they compensated for the lack of worker labor in rearing the first batch of colony members. Newly mated S. invicta queens were collected (n = 60) and reared individually in artificial nests in the laboratory under optimal incubation conditions. Using video-technology, brood care activity by newly mated queens was quantified and compared with brood care activity of mature queens who were incubated with workers. In addition, newly mated queens and their offspring (i.e., the incipient colony) were censused biweekly for 6 mo to determine the ontogeny of the adult:larva ratio. Results from this study revealed that newly mated queens spent 65% of their time engaged in brood care activities; queens incubated with workers spent <1% of their time tending brood. Newly mated queens laid two kinds of eggs, viable and trophic. Trophic eggs were ingested by the queen, and then regurgitated to larvae. In the second phase of colony founding, after the first worker offspring hatched, the adult:larva ratio was >1:1. Consequently, larvae were never in competition with each other for worker attention. In summary, this study revealed that newly mated queens were endowed with a suite of compensatory brood rearing strategies enabling them to succeed in founding a colony in the absence of worker labor.
Language
en_US
Publisher
Entomological Society of America
Recommended Citation
Cassill, D. (2002). Brood care strategies by newly mated monogyne Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) queens during colony founding. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 95(2), 208-212.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 95(2), 208-212. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.