19 replies to this topic

[Amazant]

So I’ve had this colony for a year now and they are pretty small for tetramorium but they have lots of brood, they have made a wonderful gesture nest out of the sand in there outworld along with a hole which they later covered up and now a new hole going under another tube, the queen is doing good and yesterday I found out that in the mound they made in there test tube not only serves as a safer entrance and exit because it is smaller but they have carved a nicely sized cavern in it which the queen can easily hide in.

Edited by Amazant, September 17 2019 - 3:42 PM.

[Amazant]

It’s like a miniature queen and it is a little bigger than a worker, her gaster is a little larger than others and her abdomen is huge.



This worker(?) is usually surrounded by some workers like today when I checked on them




Could anyone tell me what this is I’m really confused I have never seen something like this before and the colony is really small.

[ponerinecat]

Ita likely social parasite queen, not sure what type though, and not sure how she got in.The workers are probably caring for her.

Not a threat to the colony.

[Amazant]

Really??? The colors are exact same as the workers and she has a similar size to them, she has the body of a queen, and how could she possibly have gotten in when there is a piece of glass on the entire outworld the test tube in it. And if she is a social parasite queen what type?

[ponerinecat]

I dunno. It's a pretty weird one in a million occurence.

[EthanNgo678]

Keep us updated!

[ponerinecat]

this is the only tetramorium parasite I could find

[ponerinecat]

stronglygnathus testaceus is a good bet

[ponerinecat]

Colonies get large and the majority of workers are stronglygnathus.Pupae may be raided from other colonies. The original colonie is not harmed, and the queen is kept safe.

[ponerinecat]

Quite a rare find, hope she gets to workers.

[Amazant]

Can anyone tell me how this works it seems pretty interesting, and how could it have gotten into the colony, and how would my colony have gotten one of their pupae? I’ve raised them from a single queen, and is this stronglygnathus a queen or a normal worker? Should I remove this strange ant or keep it in there? Thanks for any information I’ll be sure to update on this colony this is pretty strange.

Edited by Amazant, September 17 2019 - 5:10 PM.

[Manitobant]

Could maybe be an intercaste or pseudogyne, which is a worker ant with the thorax of a Queen. Sadly can’t lay eggs though.

[ponerinecat]

Queen, not sure how it got in, keep it, way more interesting than tetramorium, I meant the full colony of the parasite may raid other tetra colonies.

[YsTheAnt]

I highly doubt it's a social parasite. It's probably some form of an intercaste or genetically "weird" ant.

[ponerinecat]

You can see wings in the first pic though

[Amazant]

Well let’s see what happens, has anyone had this happen to their colonies?

[ponerinecat]

not on here

This ant is hard to find as well

[Amazant]

I got some more pictures and in this one there is this weird thing coming out of her gaster, does anyone know what this is?


Also she definitely has wings which have been chewed a little bit.

[ponerinecat]

get a pic of the jaws

[Amazant]

I’ll try, not sure how well it’ll turn out.