Social and genetic structure of the ant Leptothorax risii Forel, 1892 (Insecta, Hyrnenoptera, Formicidae) frorn Gran Canaria

Abstract

The colony structure of Leptothorax (Myrafant) risii, a little known ant belonging to the L. rottenbergi group and endemic to the Canary Islands, was investigated by enzyrne electrophoresis. In a preliminary investigation of only eight colonies frorn Gran Canaria, worker relatedness was found to be 0.77±0.07, suggesting that at least these colonies of L. risii were rnonogynous and monandrous, i.e., contain only a single, singly-mated queen. L. risii thus appears similar in this respect to most other species of Leptothorax (Myrafant).