Hello,
A friend of mine keeps ants to study them as hobby, a long time ago he bought a Camponotus sp. which origins from south-east asia. A few months ago, his gynomorphe (queen) died but he now recognized that his workers obviously started to lay eggs and seemingly also further workers seem to emerge from the pupae. Does anyone know which asian Camponotus species reproduces parthenogenetically? He also told me that that these workers have a colored „dot“ on their gaster. At the moment I cannot provide pictures, but I will be able to do so very soon. I would be very grateful if anyone could provide me a hint which species this could be.
thanks very much,
Andre
Hello Andre; Ants are haplodiploid, that is, the sex of an individual is determined by whether the eggs are fertilized. Fertilized eggs are diploid and develop into females while unfertilized eggs are haploid and develop into males. A queenless colony often contains workers that begin to lay eggs producing sons. Such a colony will eventually die out because the workers aren't being replaced. The males produced are capable of breeding and so contribute to the next generation.
Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
James Des Lauriers no, that is not necessarily right, there are species like Ooceraea biroi (former Cerapachys biroi) or Pristomyrmex punctatus (former pungens) and even some known Camponotus species as long as several others that reproduce through thelytoky parthenogenesis which means the reduction step in the Oogenesis is missing and therefore the eggs are diploid, female clones rather than haploid males as usual.
If you read my answer thoroughly you will recognize that I explicitly said that there are female workers emerging rather than males which suggests that these Camponotus also reproduce by cloning.
Andre; Here is a citation that addresses your question directly. Camponotus floridanus seems to be a parthenogen.
Carlin, NF & PH Schwartz. 1989. Animal Behavior 38(1): 89-95.
Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers
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