Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly

Seirian Sumner; William Owen Hamar Hughes; Jes Søe Pedersen; Jacobus Jan Boomsma

doi:10.1038/428035a

Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly

Seirian Sumner, William Owen Hamar Hughes, Jes Søe Pedersen, Jacobus Jan Boomsma

74 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A parasitic ant has abandoned the multiple mating habit of the queens of its related host.

Multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread among animal groups, particularly insects¹. But the factors that maintain it and underlie its evolution are hard to verify because benefits and costs are not easily quantified and they tend to be similar in related species. Here we compare the mating strategies of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and its recently derived social parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, which is also its closest relative² (see Fig. 1). We find that although the host queens mate with up to a dozen different males, the social parasite mates only singly. This rapid and surprising reversion to single mating in a socially parasitic ant indicates that the costs of polyandry are probably specific to a free-living lifestyle.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature
Volume	428
Issue number	6978
Pages (from-to)	35-36
ISSN	0028-0836
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/428035a
Publication status	Published - 2004

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title = "Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly",

abstract = "A parasitic ant has abandoned the multiple mating habit of the queens of its related host.Multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread among animal groups, particularly insects1. But the factors that maintain it and underlie its evolution are hard to verify because benefits and costs are not easily quantified and they tend to be similar in related species. Here we compare the mating strategies of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and its recently derived social parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, which is also its closest relative2 (see Fig. 1). We find that although the host queens mate with up to a dozen different males, the social parasite mates only singly. This rapid and surprising reversion to single mating in a socially parasitic ant indicates that the costs of polyandry are probably specific to a free-living lifestyle.",

author = "Seirian Sumner and Hughes, {William Owen Hamar} and Pedersen, {Jes S{\o}e} and Boomsma, {Jacobus Jan}",

year = "2004",

doi = "10.1038/428035a",

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pages = "35--36",

journal = "Nature",

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T1 - Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly

AU - Sumner, Seirian

AU - Hughes, William Owen Hamar

AU - Pedersen, Jes Søe

AU - Boomsma, Jacobus Jan

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - A parasitic ant has abandoned the multiple mating habit of the queens of its related host.Multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread among animal groups, particularly insects1. But the factors that maintain it and underlie its evolution are hard to verify because benefits and costs are not easily quantified and they tend to be similar in related species. Here we compare the mating strategies of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and its recently derived social parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, which is also its closest relative2 (see Fig. 1). We find that although the host queens mate with up to a dozen different males, the social parasite mates only singly. This rapid and surprising reversion to single mating in a socially parasitic ant indicates that the costs of polyandry are probably specific to a free-living lifestyle.

AB - A parasitic ant has abandoned the multiple mating habit of the queens of its related host.Multiple mating (polyandry) is widespread among animal groups, particularly insects1. But the factors that maintain it and underlie its evolution are hard to verify because benefits and costs are not easily quantified and they tend to be similar in related species. Here we compare the mating strategies of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and its recently derived social parasite Acromyrmex insinuator, which is also its closest relative2 (see Fig. 1). We find that although the host queens mate with up to a dozen different males, the social parasite mates only singly. This rapid and surprising reversion to single mating in a socially parasitic ant indicates that the costs of polyandry are probably specific to a free-living lifestyle.

U2 - 10.1038/428035a

DO - 10.1038/428035a

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 14999273

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 428

SP - 35

EP - 36

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 6978

ER -

Ant parasite queens revert to mating singly

Abstract

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