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Trible attributes this rapid transformation to mutations in a supergene that contains genes coding for several traits that determine what the workers look like and how they act.

However, Trible’s team found that most of the genetic differences between the ant parasites and its host relatives are in that supergene.

It is “overwhelmingly likely” that the supergene controls the growth of impostor queens, but more targeted research is needed to confirm the finding, Dr. Trible said.

For decades, the common thinking was that complex traits or behaviors, such as parasitism or the number of queens in a colony has, would be determined by the combined influence of many genes, said Dr. Ross, who discovered the first supergene in ants and wasn’t involved in the new study.

A “supergene” that mutates rapidly, between a single generation of raider ants, is likely responsible for the royal impostors.