1983] 
Buschinger & Francoeur — Symmyrmica 
303 
Table 1. Ratios 
chamberlini 
of workers and intermorphs 
in colonies of 
Symmyrmica 
Source 
Workers (%) 
Intermorphs (%) 
Total 
Wheeler (1904) 
8(38) 
13(62) 
21 
Colony no. 1 
20 (66) 
10(33) 
30 
Colony no. 2 
16(42) 
22 (58) 
38 
Colony no. 3 
13(43) 
17(57) 
30 
2 
57 (48) 
62 (52) 
119 
Wheeler (1910), S. chamberlini is closely allied to the genus Formi- 
coxenus, guest ants of Formica species in Europe and North Amer- 
ica. Since the wingless male of chamberlini nevertheless is not as 
workerlike as the Formicoxenus male, Wheeler may be right in 
suggesting that it could represent an archaic form of Formicoxenus. 
The close relationship of S. chamberlini and Formicoxenus is 
further corroborated by our observations of intermorphic queens in 
our new material. Such queens, which often look like ordinary 
workers except that they have one or up to three vestigial ocelli and 
sometimes a little bit more developed thoracic sutures, occur quite 
frequently in Formicoxenus nitidulus (Buschinger and Winter, 
1976), in F. hirticornis (Buschinger, 1979), and in Leptothorax pro- 
vancheri (Buschinger et al. 1980). We cannot yet determine whether 
S. chamberlini also has a functional monogyny like the 3 guest ants 
we mentioned above. This would mean that alongside one func- 
tional queen in each nest, there exists one or several inseminated but 
not egg-laying potential queens. However, at least our finding of 
two recently inseminated intermorphic females in S. chamberlini 
colony no. 2 reveals that, as in the other guest ants, copulation takes 
place within or near the mother colony, and that newly mated 
females may remain for a while in the mother nest. 
The analysis of intermorph composition presented in table 2 
based on the classification of Plateaux (1970) for caste polymorph- 
ism in Leptothorax nylanderi, revealed only few superior inter- 
morphs with intermediate trunk between a fully developed gyno- 
morph and a typical ergatomorph. Moreover the inferior intermorph 
classes seem to be dominated by the form 4 which has 3 small or 
minute ocelli in any combination, a mesothorax not, or slightly 
enlarged, a promesonotal suture more or less prominent. The indi- 
viduals with a potential or actual queen function capacity are found 
