Vidal, Mathilde and Koenigseder, Florian and Giehr, Julia and Schrempf, Alexandra and Lucas, Christophe and Heinze, Juergen (2021) Worker ants promote outbreeding by transporting young queens to alien nests. COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY, 4 (1): 515. ISSN , 2399-3642
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Vidal et al. identify a breeding system in the ant Cardiocondyla elegans that avoids colonial inbreeding, managed by a third party of worker ants. This system bears similarities to human matchmaking, but with fundamental genetic drivers rather than social ones. Choosing the right mating partner is one of the most critical decisions in the life of a sexually reproducing organism and is the basis of sexual selection. This choice is usually assumed to be made by one or both of the sexual partners. Here, we describe a system in which a third party - the siblings - promote outbreeding by their sisters: workers of the tiny ant Cardiocondyla elegans carry female sexuals from their natal nest over several meters and drop them in the nest of another, unrelated colony to promote outbreeding with wingless, stationary males. Workers appear to choose particular recipient colonies into which they transfer numerous female sexuals. Assisted outbreeding and indirect female choice in the ant C. elegans are comparable to human matchmaking and suggest a hitherto unknown aspect of natural history - third party sexual selection. Our study highlights that research at the intersection between social evolution and reproductive biology might reveal surprising facets of animal behavior.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | SEX DETERMINATION; INBREEDING DEPRESSION; CARDIOCONDYLA-ELEGANS; CLONAL REPRODUCTION; GENETIC-STRUCTURE; HYMENOPTERA; MALES; COMPETITION; ACCEPTANCE; AVOIDANCE; |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Aug 2022 06:52 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2022 06:52 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/46162 |
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