Gamergate
Pachycondyla berthoudi -Arbeiterin
A gamergate (Greek gametes "husband", ergatos "worker") is an ants ' mated worker who is reproductive and thus has the function of a queen . Gamergaten are anatomically indistinguishable from other workers.
The name was coined in 1983 by William L. Brown and was first used in a treatise in The Sciences in 1984 by Christian Peeters and Robin Crewe.
In species with gamergaten, there are usually no gynomorphic females. This type of reproduction is only common in the primeval ants (Ponerinae), for example in Diacamma , Dinoponera and Pachycondyla , but also occurs in a few species in other subfamilies , for example in Megalomyrmex leoninus .
literature
- Hölldobler and Wilson : The Ants . Springer (1990) ISBN 3-540-52092-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chr. Peeters, R. Crewe: Insemination controls the reproductive division of labor in a ponerine ant . In: The natural sciences . tape 71 , no. 1 , 1984, p. 50-51 , doi : 10.1007 / BF00365989 .