Young winged queens (gynes) mate with foreign males (outbreed) and then found a colony on their own. These foundresses produce workers. Once males are produced, they first mate with some workers inside the nest (inbreeding) before they leave the nest to mate with foreign queens. Once a queen dies, unmated and mated workers compete to replace the queen. The prevailing workers then start producing workers, males and gynes. If unmated, they mate with one of the first available males inside the nest, becoming mated, egg-laying workers (gamergates). When gamergates die, they will be replaced by new gamergates, continuing the colony. This cycle can theoretically continue until the colony dies (see Haight and Liebig BMC Biology 2025).

A. Dominance biting involves a dominant individual biting the head or other body parts of a subordinate with the mandibles and repeatedly pushing the head down. It indicates that the aggressive ant is dominant. 

B. Policing occurs when a subordinate or a dominant grabs and holds a potential dominant for an extended period (up to 24 h in extreme cases). The policed individual generally assumes a pupal position. 

C. Antennal dueling occurs between two or more high‐ranking individuals that spar back and forth using their antennae. In a colony with a stable social system, dueling is only shown by gamergates. However, during dominance establishment or during phases of social instability, other workers may show dueling behavior even though they are not gamergates or do not end up as gamergates. Occasionally, gamergates may also lose their status and stop dueling. Frequency of dueling is low in stable conditions, but high during unstable phases. (From Sasaki et al. American Naturalist 2016, supplement, drawings by Clint Penick)

In addition, variations of above behaviors occur, e.g., policing can transition into dominance biting. Sometimes subordinates may challenge dominant individuals, as in the beginning of a duel. Dominant individuals may either not respond or attack them.

Gamergates also show a suite of distinct behaviors (see Haight and Liebig Insectes Sociaux 2025). They often stay close to cocoons, walk slowly, like in slow motion, through the colony, refuse to let another ant walk over them, and carefully move their antennae. Focusing on these behaviors allows identifying gamergates quickly without observing them dueling or egg-laying. On this note, eggs are sometimes laid by subordinates during or shortly after periods of social instability. These eggs may have a wobbly appearance indicating that the chorion is not fully formed. After laying such non-viable eggs, they are sometimes fed to the gamergates or larvae, a further indication that the egg-layer was not a dominant individual.