4 replies to this topic

[Mettcollsuss]

So a month or two back I caught a C. nearcticus queen. For the first week or so she didn't lay any eggs. in fact, I noticed the first sign of offspring as a small larvae that appeared about a month after capture. I just checked on her and has a small pile of 3-4 eggs and larvae and 1 pupa, which she keeps separate from the rest. Now this isn't the weird part. Everyone knows that Camponotus pupae spin cocoons. Except this pupae is naked. It has no cocoon. I may be wrong about specific species, but it's definitely some species of Camponotus. She has the signature thorax shape of a carpenter ant queen. If someone could try to explain this, I would be grateful. Thank you.

[skocko76]

This may sound stupid, but maybe the pupa is dead? Has there been development?

[Mettcollsuss]

This may sound stupid, but maybe the pupa is dead? Has there been development?

No,it's alive. It's gone from plain white to an eye appearing.

[Flame.Hyped]

I have Camponotus nearcticus as well, sometimes they just get naked pupae. I don't know why

[ultraex2]

It should be fine - I had a colony of Formica that had pupae that didn't spin cocoons and after looking it up other ant keepers sometimes recorded it.  I think that some people were thinking that it could be related to their being a lack of substrate - when there is no dirt, sand, etc. then there's a greater chance they won't spin cocoons vs. creating them.