Polygyny Increases Survival of Minor Workers and Mortality of Major Workers in Overwintering Camponotus yamaokai (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

ABSTRACT A higher proportion of polygynous ant species in northern areas suggests that cold climates select for increased queen number per colony. However, the types of social conditions within nests that allow polygynous species to inhabit cold climates are unclear. The Japanese twig-dwelling ant, Camponotus yamaokai Terayama & Satoh, 1990, which has on average two queens per colony, also inhabit colder areas than monogynous related species. C. yamaokai alates remain in natal colonies and always overwinter with workers. A previous study demonstrated that cohabitation by workers facilitates overwintering success of C. yamaokai queens. However, how queen number influences the survival of queens cohabitating with workers and the survival of other castes was not investigated. Here, we compared overwintering survival of queens and workers among experimental groups with different social structures. Wintering experiments revealed that queen survival did not differ between monogynous (one queen) and polygynous (two queens) groups but was correlated positively with worker number. Meanwhile both queen and worker number influenced worker survival, and these factors interacted with worker type (minor or major). Worker survival increased with increasing worker number, but the effect was more pronounced for major workers than for minor workers. With respect to queen number, minor workers survived longer in polygynous groups than in monogynous groups, whereas the opposite pattern was found in major workers. In other words, major worker mortality increased with increasing queen number. These results suggest that cohabitation with workers but not other queens facilitates queen survival, and that queen number increases survival in minor workers but increases mortality in major workers. Possible explanations for this latter pattern are discussed.