1985] 
Goodloe & Sanwald — Polyergus 
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Callows were included in the host groups because experience had 
shown that queens in laboratory “adoptions” experience a high 
death rate due to attacks by the adult slave-species workers, while 
callows appear to be more accepting and less hostile. The number of 
adults chosen was considered the absolute minimum required for an 
interaction, while the number of callows and pupae, equalized 
between the two species in each test box, was the result of the 
number available in laboratory colonies of the appropriate species 
during the course of the experiment. 
Each queen, in her own test tube to avoid dehydration, was placed 
in a box between the parallel test tubes containing the two potential 
hosts, and the restraining plug was removed. Checks were made 
daily to see if an adoption had occurred. An adoption was consi- 
dered complete when the queen was found living in a test tube with 
workers and brood, and being tended (groomed, fed, or provided 
with other frequent, non-hostile contact) by the workers, for at least 
24 hours. 
Results and Discussion 
Table I summarizes the labelling, recovery, and survival of 
Polyergus queens. Recovery of the mated queens was facilitated by 
the fact that all labelled dealates were found within one meter of the 
nest of origin and all appeared to be attempting to return to their 
nest, except for two queens who were recovered from under the rock 
covering the entrance to the home nest itself. 
Overall mortality in the adoption test was 59%, but was dispro- 
portionately high for queens from Colony II. Of the 13 surviving 
queens from colonies containing F. schaufussi slaves and the one 
surviving queen from the nest containing F. pallidefulva nitidiven- 
tris slaves, all were adopted into “colonies” of the slave species 
found in their nest of origin (binomial test, p < .001, n = 14). Over 
70% of the adoptions occurred within the first 72 hours. The most 
prolonged interval preceding a successful adoption was 17 days. 
In this experiment, it is not possible to know whether the ultimate 
residence of the queens was determined by their “choice” or by the 
selective action of the slave species workers. Clearly queens and 
potential hosts must be accepting of each other for an adoption to 
occur. Observations of the interactions between the queens and their 
potential hosts suggested that the initial response to a queen by 
