Article
Abandoning aggression but maintaining self-nonself discrimination as a first stage in ant supercolony formation.
Current biology : CB - 6 Nov 2007
Steiner Florian M, Schlick-Steiner Birgit C, Moder Karl, Stauffer Christian, Arthofer Wolfgang, Buschinger Alfred, Espadaler Xavier, Christian Erhard, Einfinger Katrin, Lorbeer Eberhard, Schafellner Christa, Ayasse Manfred, Crozier Ross H
Abstract excerpt
An ant supercolony is a very large entity with very many queens. Although normal colonies of small extent and few queens remain distinct, a supercolony is integrated harmoniously over a large area [1, 2]. The lack of aggression is advantageous: Aggression is costly, involving direct and indirect losses and recognition errors [3, 4]. Indeed, supercolonial ants are among the ecologically most successful organisms...
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