8 
Psyche 
[Vol. 93 
releasing posture (Holldobler & Haskins, 1977). As many as six 
workers were observed calling simultaneously, both inside and out- 
side the nest. Workers calling inside the nest were subject to 
repeated rapid antennation of the gaster, sides of body, and head, by 
other workers. When antennated in front, the calling worker would 
reciprocate the gesture, while maintaining the calling posture. 
Workers calling in the foraging arena outside the nest were not the 
object of rapid antennation by other workers. 
The sexual calling behavior of workers continued, with increasing 
intermittency, for the next six months. During this time, two addi- 
tional adult males were produced, but no workers. There was no 
indication that sib mating occurred — males showed no apparent 
interest in their calling nestmates. The colony continued to decline 
in size, no additional workers were produced, and, at time of writing 
(January, 1986), it consisted of 35 workers, 1 male, 2 larvae and 
several eggs. 
By contrast, colony #6281 remained a viable queenright colony. 
The queen continued to produce fertile eggs, and was not molested 
by her daughters. There was no obvious conflict among workers (i.e. 
no spate of antennal boxing or other forms of aggression), and 
workers did not exhibit sexual calling behavior. At time of writing, 
the colony was continuing to grow and comprised the queen, about 
120 workers, and abundant brood. 
Discussion 
These findings demonstrate that the deciduously winged females 
of Rhytidoponera metallica have not lost the potential to function 
as queens, despite their sporadic occurrence in nature. Under 
laboratory conditions the two R. metallica colonies remained queen- 
right for at least a year, and the queens and workers adopted conven- 
tional roles of egg-layer and forager, respectively. On the other hand 
the R. metallica colonies grew more slowly than the incipient queen- 
right colony of R. chalybaea, and the colony-founding foraging phase 
of the queens was correspondingly extended. Hence there remains 
some uncertainty about the efficacy of colony foundation by R. 
metallica queens in nature. 
One of the R. metallica colonies experienced death of the queen, 
apparently a case of matricide triggered by queen infertility. Since 
the workers began calling for males soon after the queen’s death, 
