Estrategias alternativas en el ciclo de vida de tres hormigas mediterráneas

Colony life cycles of three mediterranean ants have been analyzed, and important differences have been found among them. Cataglyphis cursor does not keep brood during the winter, and rears new individuals from egg to adult in only one activity period, from April to September. Aphaenogaster senilis spends the winter with brood, and produces new workers during a long period of the year, from April to October. Both species produce a small number of alates because they form new colonies by fission. Therefore, worker brood is the decisive factor that determines colony life cycles of both species. Camponotus cruentatus has an independent mode of colony founding, in which colonies produce a high number of alates in order to override the extremely high mortality of colony-founding queens during mating. Its colony cycle differs from the others in that there is a high spring production of alates and workers, which overlap into the nests. Variations in colony life cycles of these species in relationship with their seasonal activity pattem and their ecological features are discussed.