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Hagen, Smith, & Rissing — Two desert ants 
199 
and Rissing, 1988b.) Colonies initiated with more foundresses pro- 
duce more workers and are more likely to succeed at brood raiding 
(Bartz and Hdlldobler 1982, Tschinkel and Howard 1983, Rissing 
and Pollock 1987). Under such circumstances group life can be 
considered mandatory, and relatedness of a potential co-foundress 
is of little or no importance compared to her ability to contribute to 
an initial brood-raiding force (Pollock and Rissing, 1988a). While 
relatedness appears to play an important role in the formation of 
many wasp foundress associations (references above), this appears 
increasingly unlikely in most ant foundress associations. 
Summary 
Genetic relatedness among queens within foundress associations 
of two desert ant species was assayed with protein electrophoresis. 
Of 18 loci screened in the seed-harvester Veromessor pergandei, 4 
were variable leading to a within-foundress-association relatedness 
estimate of r = .03 (Le. random association of queens). Only one 
locus of 30 screened in the leaf-cutter Acromyrmex versicolor was 
variable. Relatedness within A. versicolor foundress associations 
was estimated at r = -.12, with the negative value likely a statis- 
tical artifact rather than an indication that kin avoid each other. 
These data are consistent with behavioral and electrophoretic 
observations of these and other ants and suggest kin selection plays 
little, if any, role in formation of most ant foundress associations. 
Acknowledgments 
Facilities for electrophoresis at MSU were provided by J. M. 
Scriber. The computer program used to calculate relatedness was 
modified by RHH from “F-stat”, written by J. C. Long and supplied 
to us by P. Smouse of the Department of Human Genetics at UM. 
D. C. Queller and P. Smouse advised us on aspects of the data 
analysis. G. B. Pollock provided useful comments throughout this 
project. Supported by NSF grant BSR-8620283 to SWR. 
Literature Cited 
Bartz, S. H. and B, HOlldobler. 
1982. Colony founding in Myrmecocystus mimicus Wheeler (Hymenoptera: 
Formicidae) and the evolution of foundress associations. Behav. Ecol. 
Sociobiol. 10 : 137-147. 
