Summary
Field studies ofPolyrhachis moesta revealed that colonies were facultatively founded by more than one queen, even though each established colony was inhabited by only one queen with her workers. In pleometrotic colonies, it was found that cofoundresses frequently exhibited cooperative behaviors, including trophallaxis. The results of DNA fingerprinting showed that multiple foundresses were not genetically to one another. It seems that they aggregate randomly and independently of their relatedness. A discussion of the reasons why foundresses ofP. moesta do not aggregate preferentially with genetically related females.
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Sasaki, K., Satoh, T. & Obara, Y. Cooperative foundation of colonies by unrelated foundresses in the antPolyrhachis moesta . Ins. Soc 43, 217–226 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01242573
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01242573