Mechanisms of dependent colony founding in the slave -maker ant, Polyergus breviceps Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
Item
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Title
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Mechanisms of dependent colony founding in the slave -maker ant, Polyergus breviceps Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
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Identifier
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AAI9959190
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identifier
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9959190
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Creator
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Johnson, Christine Andrea.
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Contributor
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Advisers: James M. Carpenter | Howard Topoff
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Psychobiology | Biology, Entomology
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Abstract
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A newly mated queen of the slave-making ant, Polyergus breviceps, establishes her colony by taking over a nest of Formica. After killing the resident queen, nest workers immediately adopt the slave-maker queen and, eventually, her offspring. Behavioral experiments and analysis of cuticular hydrocarbons were used to investigate the processes underlying the integration of a newly mated P. breviceps queen and her offspring into a Formica nest during colony founding.;First, the stimulus inducing a P. breviceps queen to attack a host queen was explored. Newly mated F. gnava queens provided with offspring from another F. gnava queen were not attacked by P. breviceps queens, and did not trigger aggressive behaviors until 28 weeks after mating. Similarity in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of F. gnava queens that did (established) and did not (newly mated) induce attacks suggest other compounds are involved in producing aggression.;Second, cuticular hydrocarbon analysis revealed that profiles of newly mated P. breviceps queens changed after killing a Formica queen and became virtually identical to the species profile of the attacked (Formica gnava or Formica occulta ). This suggests that a P. breviceps queen acquires host queen hydrocarbons during attack and uses them to camouflage herself in the Formica nest.;Third, the tendency of Formica to rear P. breviceps offspring was investigated. Rejection of P. breviceps eggs indicated that P. breviceps eggs were not chemically similar to Formica host species eggs. Instead, rearing of P. breviceps offspring probably involves some time-dependent modification of the nestmate-odor recognition template in Formica. Adoption of P. breviceps pupae from nests containing a Formica species conspecific to test Formica suggests that pupae odors consisted of chemicals transferred by tending Formica , making them unsuitable for "brood-adoption" tests. Hydrocarbon patterns in egg and pupae profile were species- and stage-specific, indicating that other compounds mediate worker recognition of immatures as nestmate.;Finally, a review of four hypotheses and an alternative conjecture on the evolution of dependent colony founding and slave-making are presented. While primordial raiding was probably in response to territory intruders, queen invasion of a host nest being raided by nestmates may have evolved from queen exposure to raiding recruitment signals upon her return to the natal colony after mating.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
