Diacamma

also known as Queenless Ants. A queen caste does not exist in Diacamma. Unique to this genus, all workers emerge from cocoons with a pair of tiny thoracic appendages called gemmae.

In Diacamma only one worker retains her gemmae in each colony, she is the gamergate (mated egglaying worker), and she bites off the gemmae of newly emerged workers.

Mutilation leads to a permanent change in lifetime trajectory, because workers lacking gemmae never mate. This is unlike other queenless ants where workers establish a dominance hierarchy to regulate reproduction.