Population genetics of the black ant Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Colony kin structure and spatial population structure were studied in multiple populations of the ant Formica lemani , using allozymes and DNA microsatellites. Average genetic relatedness between nestmate workers varied little between populations ( r  = 0.51–0.76), indicating that the average colony kin structure was relatively simple. Worker genotypes could not be explained with a single breeding pair in all nests, however, and the distribution of relatedness estimates across nests was bimodal, suggesting that single- and multi-queen colonies co-occur. We studied spatial population structure in a successional boreal forest system, which is a mixture of different aged habitats. Newly clear-cut open habitat patches are quickly colonized by F. lemani , where it is able to persist for a limited number of generations. Newly-founded populations showed signs of a founder effect and spatial substructuring, whereas older populations were more homogenous. This suggests that new populations are founded by a limited number of colonizers arriving from more than one source. Genetic differentiation among local populations was minor, indicating strong migration between them. There were, however, indications of both isolation by distance and populations becoming more isolated as habitat patches grew older.  © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 97 , 247–258.