Adaptive Value of Nanitic Workers in Newly Founded Red Imported Fire Ant Colonies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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Abstract
Founding fire ant colonies, Solenopsis invicta Buren, with nanitic workers produced 17% more brood than experimentally modified colonies containing equal weights of normal-sized minor workers. As predicted, the number of workers in our founding colonies, not worker size, was the principal factor influencing brood production. These results provide the first empirical evidence substantiating the hypothesis that nanitic workers are indeed adaptive.