5 replies to this topic

[Connectimyrmex]

Hi!
I caught two Camponotus Variegatus workers for my lonely Camponotus queen (no eggs yet). I placed them together and they got along very well. Soon after, though, I noticed something strange about one of the worker. The "mutated minor" had an off color head and slightly rounder head capsule, similar to that of a Camponotus Variegatus soldier head. The only difference was that her head was as thin as the minor's head. I wonder if this worker is a mutated major!

Has anybody else ever seen this happen? (In case you didn't understand what was written above, the worker is a camponotus soldier with a small head).

Thanks!

PS: I know that she's not a soldier because I've kept soldiers of this species individually before.

[Serafine]

Regarding the size differences in ant species that are not polymorphic (Formica wood ants can have workers that are 4 times the size of others) I'm pretty sure that this is not too unusual. I haven't noticed any huge head differences in my Camponotus ants but their color varies wildly between individuals from the same colony. Also I remember someone here recently catching a queen with a very massive major-like head.

[Batspiderfish]

She wasn't just a median caste? Dimorphic ants like Pheidole only have majors and minors (nothing in between) while polymorphic ants like Camponotus have multiple casts or a scale of sizes between major and minor  (i.e. Solenopsis invicta).

Edited by Batspiderfish, May 19 2017 - 5:00 AM.

[Connectimyrmex]

Regarding the size differences in ant species that are not polymorphic (Formica wood ants can have workers that are 4 times the size of others) I'm pretty sure that this is not too unusual. I haven't noticed any huge head differences in my Camponotus ants but their color varies wildly between individuals from the same colony. Also I remember someone here recently catching a queen with a very massive major-like head.

 

 

She wasn't just a median caste? Dimorphic ants like Pheidole only have majors and minors (nothing in between) while polymorphic ants like Camponotus have multiple casts or a scale of sizes between major and minor  (i.e. Solenopsis invicta).

 

 

I think you guys are right. She may be just a median caste. Thanks!

[Serafine]

Actually my ants have a media worker (more than one by now), she's quite a monstrosity compared to the other workers and her head looks rather different. But there may be size variations within the (rather fluid) 'castes' of Camponotus ants (like supersized minors and undergrown medias).
 

 

Edited by Serafine, May 20 2017 - 1:20 AM.

[Martialis]

I'm assuming this is because of the rather young colony that it is; the nanitics are the smallest, regular workers the media, and the majors are well, just majors.