ABSTRACT
Species that occur in monogyne and polygyne colonies are excellent subjects for reproductive strategy studies. Most solenopsidine ants (Tribe Solenopsidini, Subfamily Myrmicinae) occur in various grades of monogyne and polygyne forms in North America (Bhatkar 1989), oligogyny being a transient condition in both. One neotropical species, Solenopsis invicta Buren, is widespread in southern North America and discrete in its forage/nest habits (Bhatkar and Vinson 1987a, b). Comprehensively studied mono- and polydomous forms of S. invicta are dispersed syntopically in the south central and southeastern U.S.A. Polygyny is as much a characteristic of the polydomous form as monogyny of the monodomous form. Early records document possible oligogyny in S. invicta (Green 1952) and S. geminata (Banks et al. 1973), with sporadic oligogyny in S. xyloni (Summerlin 1976) and S. richteň. Since then, polygyny in S. invicta in Texas (Hung et al. 1974, Mirenda and Vinson 1982, Greenberg et al. 1985), Mississippi (Glancey 1975), Georgia (Fletcher et al. 1980, Fletcher 1983) and Florida (Glancey et al. 1987), and S. geminata in Mississippi (Adams et al. 1976) has been discovered in the southern U.S.A. The occurrence of mono- and polygyne forms should be expected throughout the neotropical distribution of the 5. saevissima- complex and pantropical distribution of S. geminata-complex, analogous to that of the palearctic Form/cα-complexes (Gösswald 1951, Pamilo and Rosengren 1983). The findings on S. invicta’s reproductive strategies and relevant data on S. geminata from tropical Mexico during 1980–84 are summarized in this chapter.
