MALE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS - PATERNITY CONTRIBUTION TO QUEENS AND WORKERS IN FORMICA ANTS

The relative number of workers and female sexuals fathered by two male s mated with a queen were directly assessed using microsatellite and a llozyme markers in field colonies of the ants Formica exsecta and F. t runcorum. In both species one of the two males consistently fathered m ore offspring than the other. There was, however, no evidence that one male might be particularly successful in fathering a disproportionall y high proportion of female sexuals relative to the proportion of work ers. Moreover, in F. exsecta, the proportions of worker pupae and work er adults fathered by each male did not differ significantly between c ohorts. The most likely explanation for this pattern is that females s tore different amounts of sperm from the two males they mated with.