REPRODUCTION BY VIRGIN QUEEN FIRE ANTS IN QUEENLESS COLONIES - COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF 3 TAXA (SOLENOPSIS-RICHTERI, HYBRID SOLENOPSIS-INVICTA RICHTERI, S-GEMINATA) (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE)

In the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, some winged virgin queens are kno wn to shed their wings (dealate) upon removal of the mated mother quee n. These virgin queens then develop their ovaries and begin to lay egg s, thereby foregoing the option of leaving on mating flights and attem pting to found their own colonies. Such a response of virgin queens to queenlessness has not been reported for other ants. In order to deter mine if virgin queens of some other fire ants (subgenus Solenopsis) wo uld respond in the same way, experiments were conducted on S. richteri , hybrid S. invicta/richteri and S. geminata, a member of a species co mplex different from that of the other taxa. Just as in S. invicta, vi rgin queens of S. richteri and the hybrid dealated and began to lay eg gs within days of the removal of the queen. In addition, workers execu ted many of the reproductively active virgin queens, a phenomenon also found in S. invicta. In contrast, virgin queens of S. geminata did no t dealate or quickly begin to lay eggs upon separation from the queen. Reasons for the variability in the response of virgin queens of the d ifferent species may be 1) higher probability of reproductive success for unmated dealated queens compared to normal claustral founding in S . invicta and S. richteri linked to relatively frequent loss of the mo ther queen; or 2) phylogenetic constraint.