GENETIC COLONY AND POPULATION-STRUCTURE OF THE ANT LEPTOTHORAX CF CANADENSIS

The small myrmicine ant Leptothorax cf. canadensis is one of the most common ants in boreal coniferous forests in eastern North America. Thr oughout its range, colonies may contain several fertile queens, i.e., the species is facultatively polygynous. According to estimates of rel atedness from allozyme data, the number of queens does not reliably re flect the number of matrilines actually present within the nests, prob ably as a result of frequent changes in the number of queens per colon y Electromorph frequencies of two variable enzyme loci did not differ significantly between samples of populations from various localities, including an isolated population in southern New Hampshire. It appears that large population size in ants of the genus Leptothorax counterac ts random genetic drift. The life history of L. cf. canadensis is disc ussed in respect of the genetic data.