Sobre la fundación de la sociedad en la hormiga Cataglyphis iberica (Emery, 1906) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Colony founding in Cataglyphis iberica, a monogynous and polydomous ant species, has been studied. Nest population, worker size distribution and queeníworker dimorphism has been analyzed. Males and virgin females are found only in queenless nests. Virgin females have a relatively small fat content (36+8%) and after mating, they fly and go away from their original nest. Solitary mated queens are usually found in the field, but they never reach to found new societies in laboratory conditions. The contribution of these results to clarify the colony founding process, and the relationships between this process and polydomy phenomenon is discussed.