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XI.—The Cytology of Pharaoh's Ant, Monomorium pharaonis (L.)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

Ian C. Smith  and
A. D. Peacock
Ian C. Smith
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, University of Glasgow
A. D. Peacock
Affiliation:
Natural History Department, University of St Andrews, Queen's College, Dundee.
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Synopsis

Pharaoh's Ant, Monomorium pharaonis (L.), is arrhenotokously parthenogenetic, conforming essentially to the pattern of reproduction characteristic of Hymenoptera generally. The female is diploid, 2n = 22, the male haploid, n = 11, in certain somatic cells and in the gonia, though polyploidy exists in some larval tissues. The 11 discrete chromosomes of the male cells comprise a single genome, in which are distinctive only one large clubbed chromosome and at least one of intermediate size. Spermatogenesis is characterized by a first abortive division and a second equational division, resulting in two spermatozoa being derived from each haploid spermatogonium. Spermateleosis is described in some detail. Certain peculiar features are discussed, viz. the cytoplasmic buds appearing during spermatogenesis; unequal second spermatocyte divisions; the single chromosome sometimes observed as lying apart from the other chromosomes during first spermatocyte metaphase; the division and grouping of polar body chromosomes. For reasons given, several recent conclusions of Whelden and Haskins (1953) regarding the cytology of ants are regarded as mistaken.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , 1957 , pp. 235 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1957

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Footnotes

†Formerly of Natural History Department, University of St Andrews, University College, Dundee.
*

This paper was assisted in publication by a grant from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

References

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