Data for: Scaling relationships in Formica ants with continuous worker size variation

Social insects exhibit highly variable body plans at multiple scales: within colonies, between conspecific colonies, and across different species. The interspecific variation in the existence and prevalence of morphologically discrete worker subcastes in social insects raises questions about the ontogeny and functional importance of alternative worker body plans. Here, we examine the allometry of four Formicaspecies. Formica are among the most common ants in the northern hemisphere temperate zone, and species vary greatly in the degree of worker size variation. However, no Formica species exhibit obvious worker subcastes. By carefully measuring head width, head height, scape length, thorax length, hind femur length, and hind tibia length in 180 individuals, we confirm that Formica workers exhibit continuous linear scaling, meaning that they lack discrete morphological subcastes. Most measurements scale allometrically. Different colonies of the same species are generally consistent in th...

社会性昆虫在多个尺度上呈现出高度多样的躯体构型：在蚁群内部、同种蚁群之间，以及不同物种之间。社会性昆虫中，形态上分化的工蚁亚品级的存在与否及其流行程度存在种间变异，这引发了关于替代性工蚁躯体构型的个体发育与功能重要性的诸多疑问。本研究针对4种蚁属（Formica）昆虫的异速生长（allometry）规律展开探究。蚁属昆虫是北半球温带地区最常见的蚁类之一，其不同物种的工蚁体型变异程度差异悬殊，但目前尚无蚁属物种被发现存在明显的工蚁亚品级。研究人员对180头工蚁的头宽、头高、触角柄节（scape）长、胸长、后足股节长以及后足胫节长进行了精准测量，证实蚁属工蚁的体型呈现连续线性缩放规律，即不存在形态上分化的离散亚品级。多数测量指标呈现异速缩放关系。同一物种的不同蚁群通常在……