Heinze J
Biology I, Zoology, University Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany.
Naturwissenschaften. 2008 Aug;95(8):757-60. doi: 10.1007/s00114-008-0375-y. Epub 2008 Apr 4.
Workers of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi form dominance orders in orphaned colonies in which only one or a few top-ranking workers begin to produce males from unfertilized eggs. Between one and 11 individuals initiated 80% of all aggression in 14 queenless colonies. As predicted from inclusive fitness models (Molet M, van Baalen M, Monnin T, Insectes Soc 52:247-256, 2005), hierarchy length was found to first increase with colony size and then to level off at larger worker numbers. The frequency and skew of aggression decreased with increasing size, indicating that rank orders are less pronounced in larger colonies.
尼氏细胸蚁的工蚁在无蚁后的蚁群中形成优势等级，其中只有一只或几只地位最高的工蚁开始从未受精卵中产出雄蚁。在14个无蚁后的蚁群中，1至11只个体发起了80%的攻击行为。正如亲缘选择模型所预测的那样（莫莱特M、范·巴伦M、莫宁T，《昆虫社会》52：247 - 256，2005），发现等级制度的长度首先随着蚁群规模的增加而增加，然后在工蚁数量较多时趋于平稳。攻击行为的频率和偏向性随着规模的增加而降低，这表明在较大的蚁群中等级秩序不那么明显。
