3 replies to this topic

[Stubyvast]

Hello everyone!

Been a while since I've visited formiculture, what with the ants in hibernation and whatnot. However, my Tetramorium immigrans colony have not been in hibernation, and thus I've been experimenting a little bit with what they like to eat and how fast they grow. At one point, I took an aphid out of one of my terrariums to see if the ants would consume it from their outworld. However, the aphid instead just stuck around the nest entrance, until an ant found it. The ant just kind of stayed in a sort of stasis for almost 2 minutes, until another ant happened along the pair. Then they began apparently fighting over the aphid?

I'm very confused as to what happened here and why this occurred, and thus included a video of what I managed to get on film. 

Let me know if any of you have a potential explanation for this behaviour!

 

https://drive.google...?usp=share_link

 

Most of the action happens at around the 1:45 mark and onwards. 

[AntBoi3030]

My guess would be the classic case of ants farming aphids. A symbiotic relationship between ants and aphids isn't uncommon. The tetramorium were likely hoping to farm the aphid for nectar, thus not attacking it. This is just a guess, but tetras are normally very aggressive to other insects. 

Edit:

Nevermind, I watched the whole video. Looks like at least one of them were attempting to kill it. 

Edited by AntBoi3030, February 16 2025 - 5:49 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

From what I can see, the worker was stinging the aphid. Perhaps it wasn't a species they naturally farm.

[Stubyvast]

hmm okay I think you guys are correct, maybe one worker interpreted the aphid's presence as a food source, and the other interpreted it as a threat, and so attempted to sting it to death. Thanks, everyone!