Supercolonial structure of invasive populations of the tawny crazy ant Nylanderia fulva in the US.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social insects are among the most serious invasive pests in the world, particularly successful at monopolizing environmental resources to outcompete native species and achieve ecological dominance. The invasive success of some social insects is enhanced by their unicolonial structure, under which the presence of numerous queens and the lack of aggression against non-nestmates allow high worker densities, colony growth, and survival while eliminating intra-specific competition. In this study, we investigated the population genetics, colony structure and levels of aggression in the tawny crazy ant, Nylanderia fulva, which was recently introduced into the United States from South America.

Results

We found that this species experienced a genetic bottleneck during its

SUBMITTER: Eyer PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6310932 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature