USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Effects of larval secretions on queen fecundity in the fire ant.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Abstract
For social insects, queen fecundity is central to queen survival. In addition, coordinating workload, in the form of hungry larvae, with labor, in the form of workers, is critical to queen survival. Such coordination is accomplished by transporting waste products from molting fourth instars to queens that then amplify queen egg production. The source of the fecundity-amplifying factors that are transmitted from larvae to queens is still under debate. This article reports a case study on the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, demonstrating that larval excretory products amplified queen fecundity rather than larval fecal fluids, larval saliva, or nutrients. Queens were active participants in their intake of fecundity-amplifying factors, often grazing over larvae, squeezing and ingesting the expelled droplet. In summary, these findings support a queen-centered rather than a worker-centered model for the social regulation of queen fecundity and survival.
Language
en_US
Publisher
Entomological Society of America
Recommended Citation
Cassill, D.L. & Vinson, S. B. (2007). Effects of larval secretions on queen fecundity in the fire ant. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 100(2), 327-332.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 100(2), 327-332. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.