Researchers in UVM’s biology department studied ant reproductive behavior in two related ant species to learn how queens can produce sterile male worker ants, necessary to the colony’s survival. When the queen mates with males from the related species, the offspring are sterile – a good outcome for the queen but a bad for males, which want to produce offspring that can reproduce. A feature on the research also appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Read the Washington Post story.

Ant Queens Compete with Other Species by Becoming ‘Sperm Parasites’
ShareOctober 29, 2014