Contrasting population genetic structure for workers and queens in the putatively unicolonial ant Formica exsecta.

Abstract excerpt

The theory of inclusive fitness provides a powerful explanation for reproductive altruism in social insects, whereby workers gain inclusive fitness benefit by rearing the brood of related queens. Some ant species, however, have unicolonial population structures where multiple nests, each containing numerous queens, are interconnected and individuals move freely between nests. In such cases, nestmate relatedness...

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