FIELD SURVEY OF A MONOGYNOUS LEPTOTHORACINE ANT (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE) - EVIDENCE OF SEASONAL POLYDOMY

484 nests of Leptothorax tuberointerruptus were collected from a coast al limestone grassland community in Dorset, England, over a 16 month p eriod from February 1992 to May 1993. Behavioural observations and dis sections of females strongly suggested that the nests were obligately monogynous. Electrophoretic data also suggested that within most nests all the workers shared the same mother and father. Counts of nest con tents revealed temporary but dramatic drops in both worker and queen n umbers per nest in May-June 1992. Seasonal polydomy is postulated to b e the cause of this variation. Such dramatic variation highlights the importance of sampling over as much space and time as possible if prem ature conclusions about colony demography are to be avoided.