6 replies to this topic

[ctantkeeper]

during a hiking trip at sleeping giant state park, I lifted a large boulder and found a small lasius flavus colony which contained approx. 18 small workers, a huge pile of eggs and small larvae and a single queen which had her gaster greatly distended (I also observed muscular contractions in the queens abdomen periodically as she layed eggs). after capturing the colony in a small plastic bag, I realized that their were no tunnels connected to the chamber the queen was found in, leading me to believe that the colony was founded during the labor day nuptial flight last year. is it possible for founding queens of this species to become physogastric in such a short time frame? if any of you guys have raised this species before, any information regarding care would be greatly appreciated  

[Ants4fun]

Wow, that seems odd... Are you sure she isn't filled with parasites?

[Myrmicinae]

The queen may just be storing liquid food for the colony.  Myrmecocystus queens will do this before the first replete workers develop.

[BrittonLS]

The queen may just be storing liquid food for the colony. Myrmecocystus queens will do this before the first replete workers develop.

That would be my guess too except as a completely ignorant person about ants. I found an S.invicta that was super swollen like that, but she was probably just filled with pool water.

[Crystals]

In my experience, some species will use the queen as a food storage unit until they get more workers.  I tend to see this quite commonly in the Formica neogagates group, and occasionally in several other species such as Lasius neoniger and Camponotus herculeanus.

 

At this time of year it could be a combination of the queen storing a lot of food and laying eggs.

[cpman]

Once, I had a Nylanderia queen whose gaster expanded more than 3x overnight when she had no workers. She just drank a LOT of water...

[ctantkeeper]

the idea of her storing food seems plausible, but her abdomen is white. if there was food in her gaster, wouldn't it be clear?