By combining field work in Australia with mathematical modeling, three scientists from the laboratoire Fonctionnement et évolution des systèmes écologiques (CNRS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie/ENS Paris) have shown that the quality and quantity of winged queens produced by colonies of the Rhytidoponera ant vary according to environmental conditions. In certain cases, colonies even stop producing founding queens and spread solely by splitting up the colony.
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Source: Science Daily