2 replies to this topic

[Connectimyrmex]

Hello!
Today I checked on my founding Stigmatomma pallipes colony and found a worker locked on to the queen's leg. I managed to remove the worker with some difficulty. The two workers in the tube were not the queen's natural workers, instead, they were wild-caught helpers. I ended up removing them because of that sudden aggression. I still have them with me. 

Should I put them back or not? They have been together with the queen for a month or two.

[Serafine]

NEVER put foreign workers in a test tube with a queen unless it's a super-polygynous species (Pheidole megacephala, Argentines, Yellow crazy ants). The workers will almost always realize that the queen is not their own and try to kill it (because that's what they do with intruders).

[Connectimyrmex]

I was pretty sure it was appropriate (apparently you are supposed to catch S. pallipes workers from the parent nest to help the queen). They were okay together for some time.

 

The queen is doing fine on her own. She ate a dead termite and dug a little claustral chamber.