Social structure influences animal societies on various levels (e.g., relatedness, behaviour). In ants, both the number of matings per queen and the number of queens per colony can vary strongly. While workers from both monogynous and polygynous colonies often fight fiercely, in supercolonies (an extreme form of polygyny comprising thousands of queens in spatially separated but interconnected nests), non-nestmates interact peacefully. Studies on social and behavioural polymorphism within ant species can help elucidate their influence on genetic diversity and behaviour and the factors triggering variation in social structure and behaviour. Here, we reveal a behavioural and social polymorphism comprising monogyny with and without internest aggression in Tetramorium alpestre sampled in Tyrol, Austria. The social polymorphism is based on genetic and behavioural evidence and contrasts with the supercolonial organisation known from another location in Austria (Carinthia), 150 km away. Microsatellite genotyping using eight polymorphic loci revealed monogyny-monandry and high intranest pairwise relatedness. Interestingly, various experimental one-on-one worker encounters revealed only occasional aggressive behaviour between monogynous colonies, and thus a behavioural polymorphism. Mantel tests revealed a significant negative correlation between spatial distance and relatedness, while worker behaviour was not correlated with relatedness or spatial distance. These results indicate that behaviour might be influenced by other factors – for example, the experience of workers, ecological, chemical, and/or genetic factors not characterised in this study. However, workers distinguished nestmates from non-nestmates also when aggression was lacking. We hypothesise an adaptive value of reduced aggression. We speculate that the non-aggressive and partly aggressive encounters observed represent different options in the social structure of T. alpestre, the non-aggressiveness possibly also promoting supercolony development. The social and behavioural polymorphisms observed offer opportunities to identify the factors triggering these changes and thus further explore the behavioural and social polymorphism of this ant species.

中文翻译：

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高山蚂蚁的行为多态性：高山铺道蚁中有或没有内部攻击的一夫一妻制

社会结构在各个层面上影响动物社会（例如，相关性、行为）。在蚂蚁中，每个蚁后的交配次数和每个蚁群的蚁后数量都有很大差异。虽然来自一夫一妻制和一夫多妻制蚁群的工蚁经常激烈争斗，但在超级蚁群（一夫多妻制的一种极端形式，由数千只蚁后组成，巢穴空间上分开但又相互连接）中，非同巢同伴和平相处。对蚂蚁物种内社会和行为多态性的研究有助于阐明它们对遗传多样性和行为的影响以及引发社会结构和行为变异的因素。在这里，我们揭示了在奥地利蒂罗尔州采样的Tetramorium alpestre中存在的行为和社会多态性，包括一夫一妻制，有或没有内部侵略。这种社会多态性基于遗传和行为证据，并与 150 公里外的奥地利（克恩顿州）另一个地点已知的超级殖民组织形成鲜明对比。使用八个多态性位点的微卫星基因分型揭示了一夫一妻制和高度的巢内成对相关性。有趣的是，各种实验性的一对一工蜂遭遇仅揭示了单性群体之间偶尔的攻击行为，因此存在行为多态性。曼特尔测试显示空间距离和相关性之间存在显着的负相关，而工人行为与相关性或空间距离不相关。这些结果表明，行为可能会受到其他因素的影响，例如，工人的经验、本研究中未描述的生态、化学和/或遗传因素。然而，当缺乏攻击性时，工蚁也会区分同窝同伴和非同窝同伴。我们假设减少攻击性具有适应性价值。我们推测观察到的非攻击性和部分攻击性的遭遇代表了 T. alpestre 社会结构中的不同选择，非攻击性也可能促进超级群体的发展。观察到的社会和行为多态性为识别触发这些变化的因素提供了机会，从而进一步探索该蚂蚁物种的行为和社会多态性。