3 replies to this topic

[Aaron567]

Today I found a Camponotus snellingi colony living in a log, so I collected a larva just to see what my Camponotus floridanus colony would do with it. I put the C. snellingi larva in the outworld of my four-worker Camponotus floridanus colony, and they dragged it in the nest and now have seemed to accept it. It is in their brood pile and they are treating it like the other larvae.

 

If this larva eventually develops into a worker, should I worry about the C. snellingi worker possibly attacking my C. floridanus? I honestly did not really expect them to accept the larvae so easily.

[Kevin]

They will likely kill it in pupae stage or when it's about to eclose.

[Aaron567]

bump

 

This is somewhat urgent and I am concerned

Edited by Aaron567, April 17 2017 - 10:25 AM.

[Loops117]

If they don't eat it, the worker will most likely do nothing. Almost completely incompatible.

I had ran some tests similar to this in the past with C.pennsylvanicus colony and C.noveboracensis brood and vice versa. I thought it was a success since the workers survived and i had seen them among the rest in the nest. I was talking about it in chat until someone had told me to pay attention to the foreign workers and watch what they do. The worker wasn't doing much, if not anything with the rest of the colony! Occasionally i would see the worker eat something, but that's about it. They never foraged with the colony, nor did they partake in anything else such as tending to the brood. If anything, they acted like a male alate in the nest.

 

I had mentioned this to a couple other members here and they said it was similar to two totally different languages with no way to translate.