11 replies to this topic

[BCAntKeeper]

This particular experiment that took place in 2020, my first year of ant keeping. There are three carpenter ant species in my area, and I felt pretty confident that only Camponotus novaeboracensis was monogynous, but I decided to test the theory by putting multiple queens of each species together in a test tube setup. I put multiple C. novaeboracensis queens in the same tube and they started killing one another. I did the same thing with C. modoc, and they quickly settled next to each other and started laying eggs. I repeated the experiment several times with each species. The third species, probably C. herculeanus, is certainly polygynous because I found three queens huddled together under a log with about 50 workers. In conclusion, C. herculeanus/modoc are most likely polygynous, and if C. novaeboracensis is polygynous it is probably quite rare (they have lots of small colonies where I live). I have a nice Time-lapse of a two-queen C. modoc colony having their first meal which shows the gasters expanding, but it wouldn’t attach. They were released shortly after because I am a beginner and C. novaeboracensis seemed more desirable for a number of reasons. I have been busy with steelhead fishing and college, but I will be sure to have all my journals up by the end of the month and update them every month until hibernation. I will also be doing more of these experiments in the future.

[VenomousBeast]

I have also tested this a couple times, most by accident🤣 I have a founding set of 4 Camponotus chromaiodes, all of the cooperating (so far), they have eggs, but I wonder if this will be short lived or not🤷‍♂️. I'll seperate them if things get too chaotic but so far they are grooming each other and sharing food between each other. I'm sure their colony scent is the same as its been like this for a week and a half with no problems! I think it'd be cool to have a multi queen colony of them as they are generally too slow to keep ADHD minded me entertained🤣

[ZTYguy]

You should also put into factor secondary Monogyne. That is from what I’ve heard and experienced is when multiple queens will found together and will grow colonies but after a certain amount of time, queens will be culled leaving only the best. This can be viewed in ants such as Acromyrmex versicolor (it differentiates from region to region), Myrmecocystus species such as mexicanus, and some Camponotus I have seen this with.

[VenomousBeast]

You should also put into factor secondary Monogyne. That is from what I’ve heard and experienced is when multiple queens will found together and will grow colonies but after a certain amount of time, queens will be culled leaving only the best. This can be viewed in ants such as Acromyrmex versicolor (it differentiates from region to region), Myrmecocystus species such as mexicanus, and some Camponotus I have seen this with.

Yeah, I was thinking that that would probably be the case, but it's worth finding out how long it takes before aggression is shown (and trust me, the second some is shown, even a little bit, I'm seperating them)

[BCAntKeeper]

You should also put into factor secondary Monogyne. That is from what I’ve heard and experienced is when multiple queens will found together and will grow colonies but after a certain amount of time, queens will be culled leaving only the best. This can be viewed in ants such as Acromyrmex versicolor (it differentiates from region to region), Myrmecocystus species such as mexicanus, and some Camponotus I have seen this with.

I know what pleometrosis is, which is why I kept them for a while after the first workers arrived. Camponotus modoc/herculeanus can have much larger colonies that most other Camponotus that I know of, so I think there is more that one queen per mature colony. If you disagree I would like to see what you came up with, because what I found on the internet points toward oligogyny/polygyny in both species as well.

 

 

You should also put into factor secondary Monogyne. That is from what I’ve heard and experienced is when multiple queens will found together and will grow colonies but after a certain amount of time, queens will be culled leaving only the best. This can be viewed in ants such as Acromyrmex versicolor (it differentiates from region to region), Myrmecocystus species such as mexicanus, and some Camponotus I have seen this with.

Yeah, I was thinking that that would probably be the case, but it's worth finding out how long it takes before aggression is shown (and trust me, the second some is shown, even a little bit, I'm seperating them)

 

I didn't release them right after their first meal, but after a couple of weeks they had too much brood for the test tube.

[OiledOlives]

Most northern Camponotus are oligogynous.

[BCAntKeeper]

I collected 6 Lasius pallitarsis queens on August 25 (yesterday). I put 3 in a test tube setup in the light and 3 in another one in the dark just in case it makes a difference. It took me almost an hour to find all 6 (plus a couple spare ones and a bunch with wings) but most of them were found within 1 foot of another queen. They also huddled together before being rehoused. I collected 10 queens of this species in September 2021 for a light vs dark experiment but several of them died due to parasitic fly larvae (the ones that laid eggs after hibernation from both the light and the dark all had 15-16 workers) so we will see how this goes.

 

[ANTdrew]

Lovely Lasius ladies.

[BCAntKeeper]

Queens have been clustered together on the cotton and appear to be in good health, although one in the light stayed away from the others for the first few weeks after capture. No aggression was detected. They were given new tubes and put into hibernation last weekend.

[100lols]

See you in a few months!

[BCAntKeeper]

Taken out of hibernation last weekend. One of the queens in the light is on the opposite side like she was after capture.

[The_Gaming-gate]

Dang it, I almost called those queens Prenolepis imparis-