Geographic variation of polygyny in the termite Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt)

Macrotermes michaelsen is a facultative polygynous termite species. Our report provides evidence for an increase of the frequency in polygyny towards a distributional border. We suggest three hypotheses to explain this pattern. Firstly, polygynous colonies have a higher chance to recruit into the mature population. Secondly, alates are more inclined to found colonies co-operatively near a distributional border. Thirdly, at the distributional border the level of intra-colonial conflicts decreases. We provide evidence that the mutilations of queens' antennae may be a measure of ongoing aggression as well as aggression in the past. Our third hypothesis would thus predict that the mutilations of antennae should decrease towards the distributional border, which was not supported by our data.