Sexual reproduction by both queens and workers in the ponerine ant Harpegnathos saltator

Ant workers are very often reproductively degenerate females, but in some s pecies from subfamily Ponerinae, the workers can mate and lay fertilized eg gs just like queens (they are then termed "gamergates"). In Harpegnathos sa ltator; new colonies are founded independently by single queens, and when s enescent they are replaced by several gamergates. This secondary polygyny i s distinguished by three features: (1) behavioural data indicate that young workers copulate with their brothers, unlike the queens who disperse and m ate outside the nests; (2) gamergate colonies produce both male and female sexuals annually; (3) gamergate colonies appear not to fission. Our evidenc e for the lack of fission is indirect: the nests of H, saltator are unusual ly elaborate for ponerine ants, and gamergate colonies produce many young q ueens (at the expense of investing in workers). Queen supersedure results i n an extension of colony lifespan, thus making complex constructions possib le with a small colony size (65 +/- 40 workers in a western Ghats populatio n; N = 59). In turn, these nests represent a valuable resource to be inheri ted by successive generations of worker offspring. This life history contra sts with that of other ponerine ants having both queens and gamergates (e.g , in Rhytidoponera confusa, nests are simple and short-lived, gamergates ar e not inbred and their colonies can fission while producing mostly males; W ard, 1981a, 1983a).