MALE BIOLOGY IN THE QUEENLESS PONERINE ANT 
OPHTHALMOPONE BERTHOUDI 
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) 
By Christian Peeters* and Robin Crewe 
Department of Zoology, University of the Witwatersrand, 
Johannesburg 2001, South Africa 
Introduction 
Various ponerine ants exhibit significant modifications in their 
pattern of male dispersal, and this is associated with changes in the 
queenright social structure. In some species the queen caste has 
become permanently wingless (= ergatoid queens), and in others it 
has been replaced by mated laying workers (= gamergates; Peeters 
and Crewe, 1984). Thus, male nuptial flights take on new character- 
istics since they have to locate flightless sexual partners. Data on 
male behavior are only available for a few of the ponerine species 
without a queen caste, but generally males disperse individually and 
orientate to foreign nests, around which mating then occurs. Brown 
(1953) observed low-flying males entering nests in two species of 
Rhytidoponera. Mating can occur outside the nest entrances (e.g. in 
R. chalybaea ; Ward, 1981), or inside the nest (e.g. in Diacamma 
rugosum\ Wheeler and Chapman, 1922). 
Ophthalmopone berthoudi Forel is permanently queenless, and 
details of its reproductive system and polydomous organization 
appear elsewhere (Peeters and Crewe, 1985, MS). This paper deals 
with the pattern of male behavior in the field and the characteristics 
of male production in a breeding system made up exclusively of 
laying workers. 
Methods 
Colonies of Ophthalmopone berthoudi were studied in one local- 
ity in Mkuzi Game Reserve (north-eastern Natal, South Africa), 
during 1981-1983. Observations were made throughout the year, 
♦Present address: School of Zoology, University of New South Wales, P.O. Box 1, 
Kensington N.S.W., Australia 2033. 
Manuscript received by the editor May 20, 1986. 
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