5 replies to this topic

[Dumpling]

Hi, I recently purchased a colony of camponotus sansabeanus from reign of rage, with 2 queens, 6 workers 1 pupae, 1 mature larvae and lots of young larvae and eggs. As you can see in the title, they culled one of the queens today. I knew that they would eventually cull a queen but I didn't expect this to happen so soon. Should I be concerned? The entire colony is well fed, (Based on the size of their gasters) and the only sign I saw that the colony was favoring one queen was that the main queen that is still alive today has a slightly larger gaster. Other than that no signs of agression (I just got home from school and didn't see the fight go down.) The scene is quite gruesome. The dead queen has it's head twisted upside down and it's legs are injured. Looks like something that only the large mandibles of another queen could do, but I could be wrong. I just want to know if I should be extra concerned about this death.

[Manitobant]

This is normal. Camponotus sansabeanus found through pleometrosis, which means that after the first workers emerge all but one of the queens will eventually be killed off.

[ZTYguy]

In general most Camponotus in California are Monogyne and if not then they found together and then cull later or after first workers. The only species I know of in California that are truly poly are Camponotus clarithorax to my knowledge. Any California antlers pipe up if I missed something.

[Dumpling]

Thanks, I thought that they would wait until second gen or something before the culling. I don't know why I thought that lol. At least the queen that is still alive is prettier...

[Dumpling]

Just a quick update, I noticed that the queen was still slightly moving around and it barely had enough energy to crawl out of the nest into the outworld in the course of two hours (about the distance of half a test tube.) I decided the best course of action is to humanely put it out of it's miserly because it's head is twisted upside down and the colony refuses to tend to it. It's sad but It had to be done to ensure no suffering of the queen.

[OiledOlives]

This is normal. Camponotus sansabeanus found through pleometrosis, which means that after the first workers emerge all but one of the queens will eventually be killed off.

I thought they were polygynous in some populations?