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Vidal, Mathilde ; Königseder, Florian ; Giehr, Julia ; Schrempf, Alexandra ; Lucas, Christoph ; Heinze, Jürgen

Worker ants promote outbreeding by transporting young queens to alien nests

Vidal, Mathilde, Königseder, Florian, Giehr, Julia, Schrempf, Alexandra, Lucas, Christoph und Heinze, Jürgen (2021) Worker ants promote outbreeding by transporting young queens to alien nests. Communications Biology 2021 (4), S. 1-8.

Veröffentlichungsdatum dieses Volltextes: 10 Feb 2022 13:15
Artikel
DOI zum Zitieren dieses Dokuments: 10.5283/epub.45028


Zusammenfassung

Vidal et al. identify a breeding system in the ant Cardiocondyla elegans that avoids colonial inbreeding, managed by a third party of worker ants. This system bears similarities to human matchmaking, but with fundamental genetic drivers rather than social ones. Choosing the right mating partner is one of the most critical decisions in the life of a sexually reproducing organism and is the basis ...

Vidal et al. identify a breeding system in the ant Cardiocondyla elegans that avoids colonial inbreeding, managed by a third party of worker ants. This system bears similarities to human matchmaking, but with fundamental genetic drivers rather than social ones. Choosing the right mating partner is one of the most critical decisions in the life of a sexually reproducing organism and is the basis of sexual selection. This choice is usually assumed to be made by one or both of the sexual partners. Here, we describe a system in which a third party - the siblings - promote outbreeding by their sisters: workers of the tiny ant Cardiocondyla elegans carry female sexuals from their natal nest over several meters and drop them in the nest of another, unrelated colony to promote outbreeding with wingless, stationary males. Workers appear to choose particular recipient colonies into which they transfer numerous female sexuals. Assisted outbreeding and indirect female choice in the ant C. elegans are comparable to human matchmaking and suggest a hitherto unknown aspect of natural history - third party sexual selection. Our study highlights that research at the intersection between social evolution and reproductive biology might reveal surprising facets of animal behavior.



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Details

DokumentenartArtikel
Titel eines Journals oder einer ZeitschriftCommunications Biology
Verlag:Nature
Ort der Veröffentlichung:BERLIN
Band:2021
Nummer des Zeitschriftenheftes oder des Kapitels:4
Seitenbereich:S. 1-8
Datum3 Mai 2021
InstitutionenBiologie und Vorklinische Medizin > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze)
Identifikationsnummer
WertTyp
10.1038/s42003-021-02016-1DOI
Stichwörter / KeywordsSEX DETERMINATION; INBREEDING DEPRESSION; CARDIOCONDYLA-ELEGANS; CLONAL REPRODUCTION; GENETIC-STRUCTURE; HYMENOPTERA; MALES; COMPETITION; ACCEPTANCE; AVOIDANCE;
Dewey-Dezimal-Klassifikation500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 590 Tiere (Zoologie)
StatusVeröffentlicht
BegutachtetJa, diese Version wurde begutachtet
An der Universität Regensburg entstandenJa
URN der UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-450284
Dokumenten-ID45028

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