87 replies to this topic

[RedFox]

I love your journal, I hope you continue write about the walnut girls

[Ernteameise]

I love your journal, I hope you continue write about the walnut girls

Oh, I will.

They are just so tiny and hard to take pictures of.

Plus, they will be ready for hibernation in October.

[Ernteameise]

Right.

Since several people in the German Facebook group have started to make their colonies ready for winter, I also decided to clean up the Walnut empire and put them on the balcony, so they get used to colder nights. Climate right now is autumn, wet and windy, and temperatures are 13-17 degrees centigrade during the day and 6-10 degrees centigrade at night.

 

They have now accepted one of the Walnuts as nests and there is still some brood

 

 

It is fascinating- not all of the female alates which tried to fly this summer have left the nest. Some of them have broken off their wings and now seem to act as normal workers, tending to the brood. You can see the larger "queens" together with the smaller workers.

 

I placed the two colonies that need a real hibernation, the Lasius and the Temnothorax, in their hibernation box on the balcony, so they adapt to outside temperatures and get ready for winter.

 

Edited by Ernteameise, September 27 2024 - 5:08 AM.

[Ernteameise]

Right.

These girls are now also officially out of hibernation.

I got them out yesterday, and placed them on the balcony to get them sorted.

The sun was shining, so the sun warmed up the enclosures.

The ants liked this very much and came out in force to bask in the sunshine (no, this is not a permanent affair, it was just for a short time while I sorted things out, the ants will be inside outside the sunlight).

Anyways, you can see very well that the walnut nest that they are using is moisturized by the ants themselves. I only offer them water in a glass tube, and they seem to be carrying it into the nest and do the climate control themselves. Hence the condensation when the sun was shining on it.

 

 

The ants basking in the sun- here you see very well that last year's female alates have shed their wings and are now doing duty as normal workers in the colony.

Looks a bit weird with all the "queens" running around, but it is know from this species in the wild that they have very mixed population nests and also have a range of differently shaped ergatoids in the nest.

In any case, the colony appears to be well and alive and in good spirits.

 

[ANTdrew]

This is far and away the best Temnothorax journal on here. Keep it up!

[Izzy]

That's really cool. I didn't know there were species where the queens would shed their wings and just become normal workers. Is that common or is that something unique to Temnothorax?

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

That's really cool. I didn't know there were species where the queens would shed their wings and just become normal workers. Is that common or is that something unique to Temnothorax?

I know that a lot of species does it! One of them that I saw once was Camponotus modoc queen acting like a worker.

[Ernteameise]

That's really cool. I didn't know there were species where the queens would shed their wings and just become normal workers. Is that common or is that something unique to Temnothorax?

When scientists look at Temnothorax nests in nature, they will find a whole variety of different workers, alates and a variety of ergatoids in the nests. There are detailed research papers with drawings of all the different varienties they found.

However, that female alates shed the wings and become workers might be something artificial- normally, these ants will fly and mate.

In captivity, they do not have that option.

This is why many ant keepers describe the phenomenon.

Many people keeping Messor barbarus (Spanish harvester ants) also describe Messor princesses behaving like workers.

However, in Messor barbarus, some ant keepers have also observed that (sexually frustrated?) princesses kill the real queen and the colony will die out because of that. I had some female Messor alates last year, and was not able to collect them all. I have not seen any winged alates in my large Messor colony anymore, however, it is totally possible that some of the princesses are now wingless workers. There are new eggs and larvae in my Messor colony, so I just hope that my real queen is still alive and productive and these are not just male eggs from an unmated ursurper.

Edited by Ernteameise, Yesterday, 11:39 PM.