1982] Alloway, Buschinger, Talbot, Stuart & Thomas 
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These observations raised a number of hypotheses. Nests contain- 
ing more than one dealate queen suggested that some colonies of L. 
ambiguus, L. curvispinosus, and L. longispinosus are polygynous. 
The production of female pupae in queenless nests raised at least 
three possibilities which are not mutually exclusive. First, a queen- 
less nest might be part of a polydomous colony with the female 
pupae being the progeny of one or more queens located in another 
nest at the time of collection. Second, these species might possess 
numerous ergatomorphic reproductives, individuals which resemble 
workers morphologically but which have a spermatheca, can be 
inseminated, and are capable of laying fertilized female eggs (Busch- 
inger 1975, 1978). Third, a queenless nest might be the remnant of a 
colony whose queen had died. 
Materials and Methods 
Over a two-year period, nests of L. ambiguus, L. curvispinosus, 
and L. longispinosus were collected during late March, April, May 
and early June; and weekly collection of L. ambiguus and L. longi- 
spinosus were obtained throughout June, July, and August of one 
summer. We recorded the number of queens present in every nest. 
In nests containing pupae at the time of collection, the kind of 
pupae present (queen, worker, and/or male) was also noted. 
Finally, nests of all three species were collected during the early 
spring of one year and cultured in the laboratory to determine the 
sex and caste of the pupae which matured from larvae present in the 
nests at the time of collection. 
Results 
Table 1 contains data regarding the proportions of nests collected 
during the springs of two years which contained 0, 1, or more than 1 
queen. About 1/5 of the nests contained more than one dealate 
queen; about 1/3 contained no queen; and the remainder contained 
1 queen. Tables 2, 3, and 4 reveal that the proportion of queenless 
nests was similar across years and throughout the season. 
Table 2 presents the numbers and proportions of nests of all three 
species collected in the spring and containing pupae of various 
kinds. Table 3 presents similar data for nests of L. ambiguus and L. 
longispinosus collected throughout the summer. These tables reveal 
that many freshly collected queenless nests contained female (worker 
and queen) pupae. Table 4 presents data concerning the broods 
