On Suicidal punishment among "Acromyrmex Versicolor" Cofoundresses: the Disadvantage in Personal Advantage

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The evolution of personally disadvantageous punishment among cofoundresses of the ant Acromyrmex versicolor

Cofoundresses of the desert fungus garden ant Acromyrmex versicolor exhibit a forager specialist who subsumes all foraging risk prior to first worker eclosion (Rissing et al. 1989). In an experiment designed to mimic a "cheater" who refuses foraging assignment when her lot, cofoundresses delayed/failed to replace their forager, often leading to demise of their garden (Rissing et al. 1996). The cheater on task assignment is harmed, but so too is the punisher, as all will die without a healthy garden. In this paper we study through simulation the cofoundress interaction with haploid, asexual genotypes which either replace a cheater or not (punishment), under both foundress viscosity (likely for A. versicolor) and random assortment. We find replacement superior to punishment only when there is no foraging risk and cheating is not costly to group survival. Generally, punishment is evolutionarily superior, especially as forager risk increases, under both forms of dispersal.Cheater, punishment, evolution

Dancing DNA

Dance performanceConcept: Susan Fisher and Steve Rissing; Animation: Keith Kelly and Vita Berezina-Blackburn; Choreography: Rachel Boggia; Music: Beverly Botsford; Videography: Rachel Boggia, Pablo N. Molina, Keith Kelley, Vita Berezina-Blackburn; Editing: Rachel Boggia; Performers: Michael Estanich, Kristin Hapke, Karl Rogers, Tiffany Rhynard.Requires realPlayer to view."Cells replicate through a process called MITOSIS: The chromosomes in the cell's nucleus duplicate and separate. Then the cell divides into two identical cells. At the core of each living, reproducing cell in Dancing DNA."Ohio State Universit

Molecular evidence for the origin of workerless social parasites in the ant genus Pogonomyrmex

Speciation of two social parasites from their respective hosts is tested using a molecular phylogeny. Alignment of 711 DNA base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was used to assess phylogenetic relationships of inquiline species to their hosts and to other members of the genus. We show that the inquiline social parasites of the North American seed harvester ants are monophyletic, descending from one of the known hosts (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) in the recent past and shifting hosts in a pattern similar to that observed in other Hymenopteran social parasites. In addition, the host populations unexpectedly were found to be polyphyletic. Populations of Pogonomyrmex rugosus from an area east of the Chiricahua Mountains in Southern Arizona belong to a mitochondrial clade separate from the more western clade of P. rugosus from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. Evidence of mitochondrial DNA introgression between P. rugosus and P. barbatus was also observed. We conclude that Emery's rule does not strictly hold for this system, but that the hosts and parasites are very closely related, supporting a loose definition of Emery's rule.<br/

Mating Season and Colony Foundation of the Seed-Harvester Ant, Veromessor Pergandei

Volume: 92Start Page: 125End Page: 13

Colony Founding Behavior of Some Desert Ants: Geographic Variation in Metrosis

The ants Pogonomyrmex catifornicus and Pheidole tucsonica display cooperative colony foundation with co-foundresses forming associations without respect to relatedness. Geographic variation in method of colony foundation [cooperative (pleometrosis) versus non-cooperative (haplometrosis)] occurs in P. californicus, Acromyrmex versicolor, Myrmecocystus mimicus and Messor pergandei. Such variation in colony founding behavior strongly suggests that comparative studies of the adaptive value of cooperative colony founding will be extremely rewarding

The evolution of personally disadvantageous punishment among cofoundresses of the ant Acromyrmex versicolor

Cofoundresses of the desert fungus garden ant Acromyrmex versicolor exhibit a forager specialist who subsumes all foraging risk prior to first worker eclosion (Rissing et al. 1989). In an experiment designed to mimic a "cheater" who refuses foraging assignment when her lot, cofoundresses delayed/failed to replace their forager, often leading to demise of their garden (Rissing et al. 1996). The cheater on task assignment is harmed, but so too is the punisher, as all will die without a healthy garden. In this paper we study through simulation the cofoundress interaction with haploid, asexual genotypes which either replace a cheater or not (punishment), under both foundress viscosity (likely for A. versicolor) and random assortment. We find replacement superior to punishment only when there is no foraging risk and cheating is not costly to group survival. Generally, punishment is evolutionarily superior, especially as forager risk increases, under both forms of dispersal