Ecological genomics and behavior associated with social polymorphism in the ant Formica selysi

In the ant Formica selysi, two types of colonies coexist in every population: monogyne colonies (with one queen) and polygyne colonies (with tens of queens). Recently, a non-recombining chromosome has been discovered as the factor determining the social phenotype of F.selysi colonies. However, all populations are polymorphic and gene flow between social forms has been proved. My goal is to gain insights into the maintenance of the social polymorphism and understand its variation in natural population sing a combination of behavioral, ecological and genetic approaches.