9 replies to this topic

[Mortamir]

Today I was looking at all my queens I caught so far this year. 51

I noticed one of them looked dead. I grabbed my magnifying glass and sure enough she was dead. I took a good look at her and it appears her abdomen was completely empty. Then I noticed some movement in the test tube and I saw some small larva moving around. At first i thought they might be hers, but they were moving fast. So I took a couple of pictures of them hoping someone could possibly ID them. There were about 35 to 40 in the test tube. Some had pushed through the cotton and drowned in the water.






I know the pictures suck but keep in mind the are about 1.5 mm long.

If you know what these are please say.

Peace.

[Jadeninja9]

Yep those would be her larvae. If you have another queen of the same species look up how to brood boost and do that.

[Mortamir]

Hmm I was thinking it was some sort of parasitic critter.

[LC3]

Are Camponotus larvae that mobile? Enough to push through cotton and move noticably fast along the surface of a glass tube?

I’m not so sure about that.

On the other hand I have no clue what these could be.

Edited by LC3, May 16 2018 - 11:16 PM.

[Jadeninja9]

I didn’t read the part where it said they pushed passed the cotton. Maybe they’re not actually her larvae.

Edited by Jadeninja9, May 16 2018 - 11:48 PM.

[gcsnelling]

Look like a fly larva.

[Phoenix]

Maggots possibly?

[YsTheAnt]

Those look like phorid fly maggots, a founding queen won't have 40 first larvae if they're Camponotus anyways.

[StayLoki]

They're maggots.
I work in veterinary medicine and sometimes I see them in the summer in dog ***t in fecal samples.
The ones I see have full digestive tracks as they've been feeding all day, and these are starving, making them appear as a larvae or pupae. But definitely a fly maggot.

[StayLoki]

They can eat through flesh and rot an animal away. They can deff chew into some cotton.