TY - JOUR
T1 - Queen specific exocrine glands in legionary ants and their possible function in sexual selection
AU - Hoelldobler, Berthold
N1 - Funding Information:
We also investigated queens and workers of the ecitonine Neivamyrmex nigrescens and N. carolinensis and found a similar generous endowment of exocrine glands in the queens but not in the workers. Unfortunately the staining of the relatively old histological preparations did not enable us to take reproducible pictures, but they were good enough for us to identify numerous exocrine glands in the dichthadiigynes which are absent in the workers. These observations were supported by SEM micrographs which resemble those taken from Eciton queens.
Publisher Copyright:
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PY - 2016/3
Y1 - 2016/3
N2 - 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-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.
AB - 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-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.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0151604
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0151604
M3 - Article
C2 - 26986740
AN - SCOPUS:84978035753
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 11
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 3
M1 - e0151604
ER -