Speciation rates vary substantially over the tree of life. These rates should be linked to the rate at which population structure forms if a continuum between micro and macroevolutionary processes exists. Previous studies examining the link between speciation rates and the degree of population formation in clades have shown both correlation and no correlation. No study has examined the relationship between speciation rates and population structure in a young group endemic to an island. We examine this correlation in 109 Gemsnakes (Pseudoxyrhophiidae) endemic to Madagascar originating in the early Miocene, thus controlling for extinction associated with time and area. We find no relationship between rates of speciation and the formation rates of population structure over space in 33 species of Gemsnakes. Rates of speciation show low variation, and population structure varying widely across species indicates that speciation rates and population structure disconnection are largely due to p...

Relatedness underlies the evolution of reproductive altruism, yet eusocial insect colonies occasionally accept unrelated reproductive queens. Why would workers living in colonies with related queens accept unrelated ones, when they do not gain indirect fitness through their reproduction? To understand this seemingly paradox, we investigated whether acceptance of unrelated queens by workers is an incidental phenomenon resulting from failure to recognize non-nestmate queens, or whether it is adaptively favored in contexts where cooperation is preferable to rejection. Our study system is the socially polymorphic Alpine silver ant, Formica selysi. Within populations some colonies have a single queen, and others have multiple, sometimes unrelated, breeding queens. Social organization is determined by a supergene with two haplotypes. In a first experiment we investigated whether the number of reproductive queens living in colonies affects the ability of workers at rejecting alien queens, as multiple matrilines within colonies could increase colony odor diversity and reduce workers' recognition abilities. As workers rejected all alien queens, independently of the number of queens heading their colony, we then investigated whether their acceptance is flexible and favored in specific conditions. We found that workers frequently accepted alien queens when these queens came with a workforce. Our results show that workers flexibly adjust their acceptance of alien queens according to the situation. We discuss how this conditional acceptance of unrelated queens may be adaptive by providing benefits through increased colony size and/or genetic diversity, and by avoiding rejection costs linked to fighting.