Flexibility of first brood production im a claustral ant, Camponotus japonicus (Hymenoptera : Formicidae)

The numbers of first-batch eggs and workers (minims) in a carpenter ant Cam ponotus japonicus are not fixed but are regulated in response to various in ternal and external factors of founding queens. The initial body weight of founding queens was positively correlated with the number of minims. The am ount of queen weight loss during the founding period was highly correlated with the number of minims. The numbers of first-batch eggs and minims for a rtificially fed queens were significantly greater than those for control gr oup queens and for unfed queens, respectively. The number of eggs laid by a queen increased when eggs deposited in the early stage of founding were re moved. In contrast, artificial addition of alien eggs reduced the number of eggs laid by a queen. The adaptive implications of this flexibility in the production of the first-batch brood in C. japonicus are discussed.