Ritualized aggressive behavior reveals distinct social structures in native and introduced range tawny crazy ants.

ABSTRACT: How workers within an ant colony perceive and enforce colony boundaries is a defining biological feature of an ant species. Ants fall along a spectrum of social organizations ranging from single-queen, single nest societies to species with multi-queen societies in which workers exhibit colony-specific, altruistic behaviors towards non-nestmate workers from distant locations. Defining where an ant species falls along this spectrum is critical for understanding its basic ecology. Herein we quantify queen numbers, describe intraspecific aggression, and characterize the distribution of colony sizes for tawny crazy ant (Nylanderia fulva) populations in native range areas in South America as well as in their introduced range in the Southeastern United States. In both ranges, multi-queen nests ar

SUBMITTER: LeBrun EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6874334 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature