Facultative-polygyny
Guides
Leptothorax acervorum
acorn ant
Leptothorax acervorum is a small myrmicine ant first described by Fabricius in 1793. It exhibits a Holarctic distribution spanning Europe, northern Asia, and North America. The species is notable for its facultatively polygynous social structure, where colonies may contain one or multiple queens. Workers display a distinctive two-toned coloration with darker head and metasoma contrasting with a lighter mesosoma. Body size increases with latitude following Bergmann's rule, with boreal populations producing workers approximately 10% larger than those from central Europe.
Myrmica tahoensis
A facultatively polygynous ant species in the genus Myrmica, native to the Rocky Mountain region of North America. Population-level sex ratios show pronounced temporal variation across years, with female-biased sexual production in odd-numbered years and male-biased production in even-numbered years. Individual colonies tend to maintain consistent sex ratio patterns across consecutive years. The species has been studied primarily at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado.