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Psyche 
[Vol. 89 
Table 9. Numbers and Percent of Sterile and Fertile Workers in Queenless Nests 
of L. ambiguus, L. curvispinosus, and L. longispinosus 
L. ambiguus 
Nest No. 
Sterile Workers 
Fertile Workers 
Total 
1 
7 (64%) 
4 (36%) 
1 1 
2 
9 (60%) 
6 (40%) 
15 
3 
12(71%) 
5 (29%) 
17 
4 
12(86%) 
2 (14%) 
14 
5 
24 (80%) 
6 (20%) 
30 
L. 
curvispinosus 
Nest No. 
Sterile Workers 
Fertile Workers 
Total 
1 
13 (93%) 
1 ( 7%) 
14 
2 
18 (72%) 
7(18%) 
25 
3 
17 (81%) 
4(19%) 
21 
4 
16 (70%) 
7 (30%) 
23 
5 
15 (71%) 
6 (29%) 
21 
L. longispinosus 
Nest No. 
Sterile Workers 
Fertile Workers 
Total 
1 
12 (67%) 
6 (33%) 
18 
2 
5 (56%) 
4 (44%) 
9 
3 
5(21%) 
19 (79%) 
24 
4 
17 (74%) 
6 (26%) 
23 
5 
7 (50%) 
7 (50%) 
14 
the same collection site much closer together than they had been 
found and of placing nests from different sites together. 
Two kinds of arenas were employed. One type consisted of a 1 m 2 
area on a table top. The other was a square plexiglass enclosure 
having an area of 2025 cm 2 surrounded by plexiglass walls 6 cm 
high. The ants were confined to the arenas by a thick barrier of 
petroleum jelly. Colonies were fed an artificial ant diet (Bhatkar & 
Whitcomb 1970) three times a week; water was continuously availa- 
ble. The experimental room was kept on a 15-h light and 9-h dark 
photoperiod at a temperature of 22° C ±1°C. 
Results 
A total of 28 experiments involving 96 nests of L. ambiguus and 5 
experiments involving 1 1 nests of L. longispinosus were performed. 
