Age polyethism,idiosyncrasy and behavioural flexibility in the queenless ponerine ant,Diacamma sp.

Age-related behavioural change of individually marked and known-age workers of a colony ofDiacamma sp. was observed through entire ant lives in the laboratory for more than a year. Although typical age polyethism was observed, activity of inside and outside tasks, life span, or time schedule of behavioural change varied considerably among workers. Idiosyncrasies in age-related behavioural change was detected among workers that eclosed on the same day. Cluster analyses revealed that individual patterns of behavioural change tended to be different when eclosion dates were far apart. This suggests that most workers change their behaviour flexibly. Thus, there is little effect of idiosyncrasy on colony response to changes in colony condition.