5 replies to this topic

[Agonzalez4771]

I have a Queen Neoponera Villosa, Setup in a test tube, I may be moving her to a different setup.

 

any hoo, I found 14 Neoponera ants at a completely different park about 1.5 miles apart. The 14 are all workers, no queen that I can tell. I have been reading the article "Fertility signaling and partitioning of reproduction in the ant Neoponera apicalis", and it states that Neoponera can reproduce without the structure of a queen... so I am going to test that theory and see if my Neoponera 1st attempt colony will reproduce... I will keep you posted. i will be working on a better Formicarium for them soon. 

 

My Neoponera Villosa colony, 2017 Feb 06.

https://www.youtube....gKVsYXgJaM&t=8s

 

[Martialis]

If they do possess gamergates, they'd need to be fertilized. Probably won't.

[Nexus]

If they do possess gamergates, they'd need to be fertilized. Probably won't.

Not necessarily, most ponerine workers are capable of parthogenesis (in other means, they can literally clone themselves and give birth to workers).

However I am surprised that workers from different colonies can live together. Hasn't there been signs of aggression ?

[Agonzalez4771]

 Hasn't there been signs of aggression ?

Hi Nexus, I have collected each of the Neoponeras, with the exception of the queen I caught, under the same tree, within a 20 foot sqd area. I call my group of Neoponeras "The Colony", since I got them at the same park and under the same tree. They have not shown any signs of aggression and work together. They may all be from the same colony but I still have not found the parent colony... Saturday I will be spending all day under that tree feeding the Neoponeras and following them... 

 

I caught the queen by chance walking on a branch at another park 1.5 miles away...  I tried to introduce her to "The Colony", she did her antenna dance and they all fell to submission except one... one challenged her and they locked mandibles, so to avoid any problems, I separated the queen and put her back in her tube...

[Shaye]

Did anything ever become of the workers regarding gamergates?

[cpman]

If they do possess gamergates, they'd need to be fertilized. Probably won't.

Not necessarily, most ponerine workers are capable of parthogenesis (in other means, they can literally clone themselves and give birth to workers).
However I am surprised that workers from different colonies can live together. Hasn't there been signs of aggression ?

I wouldn't necessarily say "most" are. Plenty are capable of laying unfertilized eggs, but there aren't a whole lot where workers can lay fertilized ones -- especially without mating. Yeah, a lot of ponerine queens look a lot like workers, but that doesn't mean the workers can act as queens.