INTERCASTES, INTERMORPHS, AND ERGATOID QUEENS - WHO IS WHO IN ANT REPRODUCTION

The terminology for ant females which are morphologically intermediate between ''normal'' originally winged queens and workers teems with il l-defined terms, such as ''ergatogyne'', ''apterogyne'', or ''gynaecoi d worker''. The terminology proposed by Peeters (1991a) gets rid of mo st of these terms but fails to distinguish between sporadically occurr ing ''intercastes'', reared due to ''mistakes'' in caste differentiati on, and ''intermorphic queens'', which are the ordinary female reprodu ctives in many colonies of formicoxenine ants. A detailed examination of development, morphology, and occurrence of the latter suggests that intermorphic queens are more similar to ergatoid queens (sensu Peeter s, 1991a) than to ''intercastes'', and should not be comprised under t he latter term.