Cooperation among unrelated individuals: the ant foundress case

Ant foundress associations are an example of cooperation among non-kin. Acr oss a dozen genera, queens able to found a colony alone often join unrelate d queens, thereby enhancing worker production and colony survivorship. The benefits of joining other queens vary with group size and ecological condit ions. However, after the first workers mature, the queens fight until only one survives. The presence of cofoundresses, and their relative fighting ab ility, also affects the extent of cooperative investment before worker emer gence. This reveals previously overlooked early conflicts among queens, whi ch reduce the mutualistic benefits of cooperation.