Colony genetic structure in the mono- and polygynous sibling species of the ants Camponotus nawai and Camponotus yamaokai: DNA fingerprint analysis

Using the ant-derived probe (pMY7), we performed DNA fingerprinting in monogynous and polygynous sibling ant species Camponotus nawai and Camponotus yamaokai. In monogynous C. nawai, band-sharing probabilities were low between unrelated individuals (mean 0.09), but those and relatedness estimates were consistently high between workers of the same nest (mean 0.85 and 0.74-0.83, respectively), suggesting that the queen mated once and nestmate workers are super-sisters. It also suggested monoandry: that is, that all nestmate workers shared most of the bands which were considered to have derived from a male. In polygynous C. yamaokai, band-sharing probabilities were low between queens of different populations (mean 0.13), moderate between queens of different nests in the same population (mean 0.25), but very high between queens of the same nest (within-nest means were 0.84-0.96). These results suggest that nestmate queens are genetically closely related with each other. Relatedness estimates between colony members sometimes reached 1. This might result from successive intranidal mating (inbreeding or large Wahlund effect) and adoption of new queens into the natal nests.