| | ||
|---|---|---|
| FORAGER | NONFORAGER | |
| Mean number of primary eggs | 8.6 | 8.5 |
| Mean primary egg length | 0.52 | 0.54 |
| Mean number of total eggs | 20.37 | 18.69 |
| | ||
Sharig of food allows all queens within a nest of the desert leafcutter ant to reproduce.
After workers emerge (eclosion), however, within-group selection favors noncooperatiion (since cooperators pay a cost not born by noncooperators); queens then fight to gain control of the colony.
