NEST AND COLONY STRUCTURE IN THE PRIMITIVE ANT, HARPEGNATHOS-VENATOR (SMITH) (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE)

Colonies of the primitive ant Harpegnathos venator were found to make a simple nest of uniform design with only two nest chambers. Nests wer e found in clay embankments. Such simple nests are unusual in mature c olonies of ants. Interesting characteristic funnels were found constru cted both between the chambers and at the nest entrance. Colonies comp rised a mean of only 35 workers and a maximum of 72 workers (from 26 c olonies excavated). Dealate queens were present in nests. Twenty-one n ests contained one queen and 5 nests contained 2 queens. This contrast s with some other primitive ant species where the queen caste has been secondarily lost. Queens, though morphologically distinct, were littl e larger than workers. Queen weight averaged only 1.4 times the mean w orker weight.