Disentangling the mechanisms linking dispersal and sociality in supergene-mediated ant social forms.

ABSTRACT: The coevolution between dispersal and sociality can lead to linked polymorphisms in both traits, which may favour the emergence of supergenes. Supergenes have recently been found to control social organization in several ant lineages. Whether and how these 'social supergenes' also control traits related to dispersal is yet unknown. Our goal here was to get a comprehensive view of the dispersal mechanisms associated with supergene-controlled alternative social forms in the ant Formica selysi. We measured the production and emission of young females and males by single-queen (monogyne) and multiple-queen (polygyne) colonies, the composition of mating aggregations, and the frequency of crosses within and between social forms in the wild. We found that males and females from alternative

SUBMITTER: Fontcuberta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8080013 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature