Low levels of hybridization in two species of African driver ants

Hybridization in ants can have consequences different from those observed in most other species, with many of the potential deleterious effects being mitigated due to haplodiploidy and eusociality. In some species where colonies are either headed by multiple queens or single queens that mate with many males, hybridization is associated with genetic caste determination, where hybrids develop into workers and purebred individuals develop into queens. A previous study suggested that hybridization occurs between two Dorylus army ant species with multiply mate queens. However, the extent and exact pattern of hybridization has remained unclear, and its possible effect on caste determination has not been investigated. In this study we aimed to determine the extent and direction of hybridization by measuring how frequently hybrids occur in colonies of both species, and to investigate the possibility of genetic caste determination. We show that hybridization is bidirectional and occurs at equal ...蚂蚁的杂交效应或与多数其他物种存在显著差异，由于单倍二倍性（haplodiploidy）与真社会性（eusociality）的存在，许多潜在的有害效应得以缓解。在部分蚁群由多蚁后统领，或由与多雄交配的单蚁后统领的物种中，杂交与遗传品级决定机制相关联：杂交后代发育为工蚁，而纯种个体则发育为蚁后。一项既往研究指出，两种具有多雄交配蚁后的矛蚁属（Dorylus）行军蚁之间存在杂交现象。然而，杂交发生的规模与具体模式仍不明确，且其对品级决定的潜在效应尚未得到研究。本研究旨在通过检测两个物种的蚁群中杂交后代的出现频率，明确杂交发生的规模与方向，并探究遗传品级决定机制的存在可能性。本研究结果显示，杂交为双向发生，且发生频率均等……