Worker ants trying to reproduce in colonies with a dominant queen are physically attacked by other workers, a study says.
In ant society, workers stop reproducing to devote themselves completely to the queen and her children, who are her brothers and sisters.
The researchers found that the chemicals produced by the ants give away their reproductive status.
The findings of a team of German and U.S. researchers are published in Current Biology.
To test the idea, scientists applied a synthetic compound typical of fertile individuals to normal worker ants belonging to the Aphaenogaster cockerelli species.
In colonies where a queen was present, workers with the applied chemical were attacked and expelled by the other ants.
But this was not the case in colonies without queens, where workers were free to reproduce.
Jurgen Liebig, a researcher at the University of Arizona in Tempe, mentioned that chemicals produced by cheating ants are an "inherent and reliable sign."
This reproductive policy plays an important role in maintaining harmony in their world, Dr. Liebig explained.
"The idea that social harmony depends on strict systems to prevent and punish cheating individuals applies to more advanced societies," he added.
For deception to be an effective strategy for some ants, two conditions need to be met:
First, worker ants would need to suppress the chemical signals that would betray them from their bodies.
Second, they would also need their eggs to lack such signs, so that their offspring would not be distinguished from that of the queen.
Some species of ants are known not only to attack cheating workers, but also to destroy their eggs.
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