Summary
We describe in detail a very large nuptial flight of the antLeptothorax acervorum at an open hilltop site in Britain. The mating behaviour of these ants involved not only a large mating swarm but also sexual/calling behaviour by the females. The females left the flight to land on vertical objects, where they took up a characteristic calling posture, in which females of closely related species are known to release pheromones that are sexually attractive to males. ThatLeptothorax acervorum has a complex mating behaviour involving both large nuptial flights and sexual calling has important consequences for the interpretation of the evolution of polygyny in this species and social parasitism in its close relatives.
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Franks, N.R., Sendova-Franks, A.B., Sendova-Vassileva, M. et al. Nuptial flights and calling behaviour in the antLeptothomx acervomm (Fabr.). Ins. Soc 38, 327–330 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01314918
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01314918