Alternative reproductive strategies: a queen perspective in ants.

Ant colonies are commonly thought to have a stable and simple family structure, with one or a few egg-laying queens and their worker daughters. However, recent genetic studies reveal that the identity of breeding queens can vary over time within colonies. In several species, some queens are apparently specialized to enter established colonies instead of initiating a new colony on their own. The previously overlooked occurrence of queen turnover within colonies has important consequences not only on the genetic structure and nature of kin conflict within colonies, but also on the evolution of social parasitism.