Nesting and reproductive biology of Platythyrea sp (parallela-group) in the Bogor Botanic Gardens, West Java']Java, Indonesia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

I report the colony composition and nesting biology of Platythyrea sp. (parallela-group) in the Bogor Botanic Gardens, West Java. This species, which always nests in trees, reproduces through both dealated queens and mated workers. Among 13 collected colonies, dealated queens reproduced in only one colony, which also contained six mated workers, of which three had active ovaries. In the queenless colonies, the percentage of mated workers among the worker population was high, while there were many non reproductive mated workers. Observations in the laboratory indicated that mating occurred inside the nest and that males could mate with more than one worker.