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Psyche 
[Vol. 89 
on the culm, species that inhabit internodes with large diameter also 
inhabit low internodes. 
The number of internodes occupied per culm is given in Table 2 
for P. pallida, S. picta, and T. littorale. P. pallida has a tendency to 
occupy more internodes per culm ( 1 .4) than does either S. picta ( 1 .2) 
or T. littorale (1.15). 
In most P. pallida nests a queen was located. However, in 19% of 
the nests a queen was not seen. It is conceivable that the queen could 
have been overlooked in these nests. In the 46 nests in which a queen 
was noted, 31 (67%) had a single queen, 8 (17%) had two queens, 6 
(13%) and one had four queens. When multiple queens are found in 
nests occupying multiple chambers, there is no tendency for the 
queens either to be found in a single chamber or to disperse to 
separate chambers. When a single queen is found in a nest occupy- 
ing multiple internodes there is a tendency for the queen to occupy 
the higher internode. 
Discussion 
The guild of sawgrass inhabiting ants is a collection of species for 
which there is evidence that certain pairs of species compete for nest 
sites and certain pairs of species do not. P. pallida and T. littorale 
are strongly negatively associated. This pair of species was not 
encountered inhabiting the same sawgrass culm. P. pallida and T. 
littorale occupy internodes of similar physical characteristics (inside 
diameter, and relative height on the culm). It is less likely that the 
two species compete for an internode of particular character than 
they compete for the space of an entire culm (Levings and Traniello 
1981, Cole 1982). 
P. pallida shows no evidence of competition for nest sites with S. 
picta. The distributions of S. picta and P. pallida are independent of 
one another. These two species are found in the same sawgrass culm 
with S. picta occupying larger and lower internodes. There is little 
evidence to suggest that S. picta is found in association with other 
species of ants. It seems to be found frequently in association with 
P. pallida simply due to the fact that P. pallida is common. S. picta 
has been referred to as a thief ant which nests in close proximity to 
other ants and specializes in stealing brood from them. In approxi- 
mately half of the cases in which S. picta is found in a sawgrass culm 
