Queen Specific Exocrine Glands in Legionary Ants and Their Possible Function in Sexual Selection
Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-167057
- The colonies of army ants and some other legionary ant species have single, permanently wingless queens with massive post petioles and large gasters. Such highly modified queens are called dichthadiigynes. This paper presents the unusually rich exocrine gland endowment of dichthadiigynes, which is not found in queens of other ant species. It has been suggested these kinds of glands produce secretions that attract and maintain worker retinues around queens, especially during migration. However, large worker retinues also occur in non-legionaryThe colonies of army ants and some other legionary ant species have single, permanently wingless queens with massive post petioles and large gasters. Such highly modified queens are called dichthadiigynes. This paper presents the unusually rich exocrine gland endowment of dichthadiigynes, which is not found in queens of other ant species. It has been suggested these kinds of glands produce secretions that attract and maintain worker retinues around queens, especially during migration. However, large worker retinues also occur in non-legionary species whose queens do not have such an exuberance of exocrine glands. We argue and present evidence in support of our previously proposed hypothesis that the enormous outfit of exocrine glands found in dichthadiigynes is due to sexual selection mediated by workers as the main selecting agents…
Author: | Bert Hölldobler |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-167057 |
Document Type: | Journal article |
Faculties: | Fakultät für Biologie / Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften |
Language: | English |
Parent Title (English): | PLoS ONE |
Year of Completion: | 2016 |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pagenumber: | e0151604 |
Source: | PLoS ONE 11(3):e0151604 (2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151604 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151604 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
Tag: | army ants; dichthadiigynes; exocrine glands; legionary ants; queens; sexual selection |
Release Date: | 2019/08/26 |
Licence (German): | CC 0: Public Domain Dedication |