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Host workers suddenly start attacking parasitic queen?

Started By RushmoreAnts , May 22 2020 5:59 AM

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23 replies to this topic

#1 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 5:59 AM

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I have a Lasius aphidicola colony with several hundred host workers. When I first got up this morning, the workers were grooming the queen like she was their own (like they have for the past week), yet an hour later, they were trying to bite her in every possible vulnerable spot! What could've changed? 


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#2 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:01 AM

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Okay, literally 2 minutes after I post this, they're grooming her again. That was weird...................


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#3 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:02 AM

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Okay, a minute after posting that, one started biting her again. It seems they're going back and forth............


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#4 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:10 AM

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Now we have workers tugging on limbs and biting her petiole and workers tenderly grooming her head and gaster at the same time.


  • OhNoNotAgain likes this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#5 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:34 AM

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Now we have workers tugging on limbs and biting her petiole and workers tenderly grooming her head and gaster at the same time.

Civil war?


#6 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:36 AM

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Now we have workers tugging on limbs and biting her petiole and workers tenderly grooming her head and gaster at the same time.

Civil war?

I don't know. It seems they aren't convinced that she's their queen anymore. Ants tend to swing back and forth on such decisions, but I was surprised this happened so suddenly. And most workers are attacking her, now.


"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#7 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:55 AM

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Now we have workers tugging on limbs and biting her petiole and workers tenderly grooming her head and gaster at the same time.

Civil war?

I don't know. It seems they aren't convinced that she's their queen anymore. Ants tend to swing back and forth on such decisions, but I was surprised this happened so suddenly. And most workers are attacking her, now.

Oof.

What can you do about it?


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#8 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 9:04 AM

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Nothing much. I can just hope the queen ends up fooling the workers again.

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#9 Offline AnthonyP163 - Posted May 22 2020 - 9:13 AM

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I don't know how or why this happens, I'm guessing its an error on the queens part.

 

Anyhow, them attacking her will probably do very little unless it continues for days. Lasius workers are very bad at killing parasitic queens. If anything, she will kill a few and get their scent back swiftly. I could be wrong, but I would leave them together and hope for the best. 


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#10 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 9:40 AM

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I don't know how or why this happens, I'm guessing its an error on the queens part.

 

Anyhow, them attacking her will probably do very little unless it continues for days. Lasius workers are very bad at killing parasitic queens. If anything, she will kill a few and get their scent back swiftly. I could be wrong, but I would leave them together and hope for the best. 

The attacks have continued, but over the past couple hours they're starting to die down. Workers are now grooming the queen more often.


  • Ants_Dakota likes this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#11 Offline Antkid12 - Posted May 22 2020 - 9:49 AM

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That was strange. :thinking:


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Ants I have: Tapinoma sessile(2 queen colony). RED MORPH Camponotus neacticus(now has pupae!), Tetramorium immigrans (x3), Aphaenogaster sp, Temnothorax sp, Brachymyrmex sp.   possibly infertile   :(,  Ponera pennsylvanica, and Pheidole morrisi!  :yahoo: 

 

Other insects: Polistes sp. Queen

                    

Ants I need: Pheidole sp., Trachymyrmex sp., Crematogaster cerasi , Dorymyrmex sp. Most wanted: Pheidole morrisii

 

                    

                   

 

 

#12 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 10:36 AM

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There still are workers occasionally pulling on her leg, but they aren’t as violent as a few hours ago.
  • Ants_Dakota likes this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#13 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted May 22 2020 - 10:51 AM

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Are all the workers from the host species or are some her own workers?


#14 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted May 22 2020 - 1:55 PM

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They are the host species, lasius neoniger.


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#15 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 1:59 PM

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Are all the workers from the host species or are some her own workers?

Just hosts. I only got her a few weeks ago.
  • Ants_Dakota likes this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#16 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted May 22 2020 - 4:42 PM

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Are all the workers from the host species or are some her own workers?

Just hosts. I only got her a few weeks ago.

 

Ah ok, but she laid eggs right?


#17 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 22 2020 - 6:08 PM

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Are all the workers from the host species or are some her own workers?

Just hosts. I only got her a few weeks ago.

 

Ah ok, but she laid eggs right?

 

Not yet. Her gaster looked pretty big, indicating she may lay soon.


  • Ants_Dakota and MinigunL5 like this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#18 Offline RushmoreAnts - Posted May 23 2020 - 5:45 PM

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They kept attacking her, so I removed them and replaced them with L. americanus workers. After five minutes of biting, they were grooming her and surrounding her like their own queen! Definitely use americanus as hosts for these! (I also found the queen of the americanus colony I got the workers from, and gave most of the workers to her, so that’s a big plus).
  • AnthonyP163 likes this

"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds (including ants). And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

 

Keeping:

Tetramorium immigrans

Formica cf. pallidefulva, cf. incerta, cf. argentea

Formica cf. aserva, cf. subintegra

Pogonomyrmex occidentalis

Pheidole bicarinata

Myrmica sp.

Lasius neoniger, brevicornis

#19 Offline MinigunL5 - Posted May 23 2020 - 5:55 PM

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They kept attacking her, so I removed them and replaced them with L. americanus workers. After five minutes of biting, they were grooming her and surrounding her like their own queen! Definitely use americanus as hosts for these! (I also found the queen of the americanus colony I got the workers from, and gave most of the workers to her, so that’s a big plus).

How do you find the queens of wild colonies?


#20 Offline TheRealAntMan - Posted May 23 2020 - 7:29 PM

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I have a Lasius aphidicola colony with several hundred host workers. When I first got up this morning, the workers were grooming the queen like she was their own (like they have for the past week), yet an hour later, they were trying to bite her in every possible vulnerable spot! What could've changed? 

Did you capture these host workers yourself or were they already there when you received her? And why/how does she have so many hosts?


An ants' strength can be rivaled by few animals compared to their relative body size
 

 

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