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25-471: Gamergate may refer to: Gamergate (ant) , a worker ant that can store sperm and reproduce sexually Gamergate (harassment campaign) , targeting women in the video game industry Lt. Gamergate, a character in the Adventure Time episode " Dentist " See also [ edit ] GamersGate , a Sweden-based online video game store Topics referred to by

50-415: A chance to reproduce when the current gamergate exhibits decreased fecundity or dies. Challenges to gamergates from subordinate workers are risky because the gamergate in species like Dinoponera quadriceps may mark the challenger by rubbing special chemicals produced only by the gamergate. These chemicals signal to other workers to immobilize the challenger by biting her appendages and immobilizing her for

75-509: A famous debate , which is said to exemplify the two major deviations in biological thinking at the time – whether animal structure was due to function or evolution. Most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically, closely related taxa differ much less than more distantly related ones, but there are exceptions to this. Cryptic species are species which look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely, sometimes unrelated taxa acquire

100-432: A few days until her hormonal levels return to normal. Subordinate workers play an important policing role in the selection of future gamergates and are thus able to increase their indirect fitness. There is much variation in the social structure of ant colonies with gamergates. Some species such as Harpegnathos saltator , Pseudoneoponera tridentata , Gnamptogenys menadensis , and Rhytidoponera confusa have

125-584: A few hundred or fewer workers. Gamergate derives from the Greek words γάμος ( gámos ) and ἐργάτης ( ergátēs ) and means 'married worker'. It was coined in 1983 by geneticist William Louis Brown and was first used in scientific literature by entomologists Christian Peeters and Robin Crewe in a 1984 paper published in Naturwissenschaften . The definition typically found in entomological dictionaries

150-562: A gamergate, a dominant worker must physically inhibit its sisters. For example, in the case of Diacamma australe , the first female to become reproductively active will clip off the thoracic gemmae of her sisters, thus greatly reducing their sexual attractiveness. In other genera, persistent domination of worker females by gamergates via physical aggression all but ensure that they will not produce male offspring. In Diacamma nilgiri , gamergates use dominance interactions to monopolize reproduction without mutilation of sister workers. The same

175-424: A shift to colonial fission . Myrmecologists Christian Peeters and Fuminori Ito have also suggested that "the evolution of gamergate reproduction appears strongly associated with the adaptive benefits of secondary polygyny (e.g. increased colony lifespan and resource inheritance), and it is the preferred option in species having workers able to store sperm." The utility of gamergate as a morphological designation

200-525: A similar appearance as a result of convergent evolution or even mimicry . In addition, there can be morphological differences within a species, such as in Apoica flavissima where queens are significantly smaller than workers. A further problem with relying on morphological data is that what may appear morphologically to be two distinct species may in fact be shown by DNA analysis to be a single species. The significance of these differences can be examined through

225-606: A winged alate queen caste as well as gamergates. Queenless species with only gamergates and workers may have a monogynous structure with a single gamergate or they may have a polygynous structure with multiple gamergates. Examples of monogynous queenless species include Pachycondyla krugeri , P. sublaevis , Diacamma australe , D. rugosum , Dinoponera quadriceps , Platythyrea lamellosa , and Streblognathus aethiopicus . Examples of polygynous queenless species include Ophthalmopone berthoudi , O. hottentota , and all known queenless species of Rhytidoponera . In

250-454: A younger cohort . For example, when the original founding queen dies in a Harpegnathos saltator colony, younger workers begin to fight for dominance and some become the next reproductives. Because reproductively inactive workers are able to activate their ovaries after the death of the gamergate, some gamergate species can be considered cooperative breeders rather than truly eusocial insects . In colonies with both queens and gamergates,

275-488: Is 'mated, egg-laying worker', and is drawn from the glossary of Bert Hölldobler and E. O. Wilson 's 1990 book, The Ants . There are 100–200 different species in which gamergates reproduce (roughly 1% of all ants), most of which fall within the poneromorph subfamilies . Whereas workers (which are all females) in most ant species are morphologically incapable of storing sperm, in gamergate species one or several workers mate and have active ovaries . Gamergate lifespan

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300-410: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Gamergate (ant) A gamergate ( / ˈ ɡ æ m ər ˌ ɡ eɪ t / GAMM -ər-gayt ) is a mated worker ant that can reproduce sexually, i.e., lay fertilized eggs that will develop as females. In the vast majority of ant species, workers are sterile and gamergates are restricted to taxa where

325-431: Is formed and only one or a few top-ranking workers can mate (usually with foreign males) and produce eggs. Subsequently, however, aggression is no longer needed as gamergates secrete chemical signals that inform the other workers of their reproductive status in the colony. Depending on the species, there can be one gamergate per colony ( monogyny ) or several gamergates ( polygyny ). Most gamergate species have colonies with

350-462: Is not without critics. Within the field of myrmecology it is a matter of dispute whether caste should be defined primarily by reproductive role or by physical morphology. Notably, Alfred Buschinger has argued that the term worker should be applied only to those ants who make up the non-reproductive caste and queen should be applied only to reproductively viable female ants regardless of their physical appearance. Hölldobler and Wilson suggest that

375-455: Is short compared to queens in queenright colonies, but gamergates can be replaced by other dominant workers in the colony without risking colony survival. Reproductive investment in gamergate females is thus optimized because non-differentiated gamergates (i.e. reproductively inactive workers) function as laborers. Within gamergate colonies, all workers are born reproductively viable and are thus potential gamergates. Prior to differentiation as

400-427: Is true for Streblognathus peetersi , which engage in non-injurious aggression to determine dominance. For most gamergate species, the start of ovarian activity eliminates the need to physically dominate nestmate workers. Instead newly produced pheromones or signaling chemicals ensure that workers remain nonreproductive. Although it is unknown to what degree these chemicals act as pheromones or as signals, support for

425-399: The latter function as secondary reproductives. Research on Amblyoponinae species has shown that there is a fecundity-based hierarchy among gamergates. In Stigmatomma reclinatum , it was found that higher-ranked gamergates had more fully developed oocytes than low-ranked gamergates. In Streblognathus peetersi, only the alpha worker mates and becomes the gamergate; younger workers await

450-465: The outward appearance (shape, structure, color, pattern, size), i.e. external morphology (or eidonomy ), as well as the form and structure of internal parts like bones and organs , i.e. internal morphology (or anatomy ). This is in contrast to physiology , which deals primarily with function. Morphology is a branch of life science dealing with the study of the gross structure of an organism or taxon and its component parts. The etymology of

475-432: The queenless Ophthalmopone berthoudi , foreign males visit underground nests to mate with young workers. Ecologically, gamergate species from different tribes and genera often tend to share certain characteristics. Many gamergate species are solitary generalist foragers living in arid environments. Similar to species with ergatoid queens, the evolution of gamergate reproduction is hypothesized to be associated with

500-415: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Gamergate . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gamergate&oldid=1259377114 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

525-399: The signaling hypothesis can be found in the loss of reproductive inhibition of workers as the gamergate grows older and her fecundity diminishes. Mechanisms of gamergate replacement vary among monogynous and polygynous species. When a gamergate dies, it is usually replaced by a formerly submissive worker who proceeds to mate and begins ovarian activity. A new gamergate often originates from

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550-437: The two positions can be semantically resolved and that the most fruitful approach would be to keep classification "somewhat loose, incorporating either anatomy or roles in a manner that maximizes convenience, precision, and clarity of expression." The existence of gamergates is symplesiomorphic , or ancestral, in ants. They are known to be present in the following genera: Morphology (biology) This includes aspects of

575-576: The use of allometric engineering in which one or both species are manipulated to phenocopy the other species. A step relevant to the evaluation of morphology between traits/features within species, includes an assessment of the terms: homology and homoplasy . Homology between features indicates that those features have been derived from a common ancestor. Alternatively, homoplasy between features describes those that can resemble each other, but derive independently via parallel or convergent evolution . The invention and development of microscopy enabled

600-763: The word "morphology" is from the Ancient Greek μορφή ( morphḗ ), meaning "form", and λόγος ( lógos ), meaning "word, study, research". While the concept of form in biology, opposed to function , dates back to Aristotle (see Aristotle's biology ), the field of morphology was developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1790) and independently by the German anatomist and physiologist Karl Friedrich Burdach (1800). Among other important theorists of morphology are Lorenz Oken , Georges Cuvier , Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , Richard Owen , Carl Gegenbaur and Ernst Haeckel . In 1830, Cuvier and Saint-Hilaire engaged in

625-414: The workers have a functional sperm reservoir (' spermatheca '). In some species, gamergates reproduce in addition to winged queens (usually upon the death of the original foundress), while in other species the queen caste has been completely replaced by gamergates. In gamergate species, all workers in a colony have similar reproductive potentials, but as a result of physical interactions, a dominance hierarchy

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