Claustrale foundation

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In myrmecology, a claustral foundation is the process by which a queen ant establishes a new colony independently. After mating, it throws off its wings, buries itself in a founding chamber and closes it. There she lays the first eggs , from which larvae , pupae and later workers develop. The queen draws the reserves for rearing the larvae from her body by breaking down flight muscles and fat bodies (fat deposits in the guest). Under laboratory conditions it could be observed that a founding Camponotus queen can survive for up to 1 ¼ years without eating. The chamber is opened with the first workers and they leave the nest to eat. With a claustral foundation, the workers are always noticeably smaller than the queens, who never have to look for food independently. The first generation that is produced in the founding chamber without taking in food is often particularly small (“nanitics”).

Claustral foundation occurs only in species of the species-rich ant subfamilies Dolichoderinae , Formicinae and Myrmicinae (and possibly in Aneuretus simoni , the only recent species of the Aneuretinae). However, some genera of the subfamilies mentioned have, apparently secondary, returned to the semiclaustral foundation.

The semiclaustral foundation is similar, except that the queen leaves the nest to feed during the foundation phase. In species with a semiclaustral foundation, the queens have fewer reserves and are also smaller than in species with a claustral foundation.

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  • Roberto A Keller, Christian Peeters, Patrícia Beldade (2014): Evolution of thorax architecture in ant castes highlights trade-off between flight and ground behaviors. eLife 2014; 3: e01539. (9 pages) doi: 10.7554 / eLife.01539
  • Christian Peeters & Fuminori Ito (2015): Wingless and dwarf workers underlie the ecological success of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 21: 117-130.
  • Robert A. Johnson (2002): Semi-claustral colony founding in the seed-harvester ant Pogonomyrmex californicus: a comparative analysis of colony founding strategies. Oecologia 132: 60-67 doi: 10.1007 / s00442-002-0960-2