3 replies to this topic

[HaydenP]

Hi, I have a question concerning queens coming out of an ant colony. I pass by this one ant colony every day and I notice winged and non-winged queens everywhere in a two foot radius around the nest entrance. I have never seen a male. Sometimes the queens venture off a few feet more than the others. Also, I never have seen them fly or attempt to fly. My assumption is that they mate within the nest and grow the colony by sending out queens that are fertile already. Can anyone give me some insight to this? I’m really interested in trying to keep them but I have no idea if the queens I collected (2 with wing scars) will be successful in starting a colony. Thank!
P.S.
I have been told that they are pheidole, but I don’t know the species. I am located in southeastern Louisiana if that helps.

[Serafine]

It's also possible that the males fly and the queens don't. Intra-colony mating is rather rare because it comes with a number of very hefty drawbacks (genetic bottlenecking and loss of genetic diversity).
The genus Pheidole is known to do both mating flights and budding off colonies though depending on the species and the environmental condiitions (some species even do both at the same time).

Edited by Serafine, September 21 2018 - 7:49 AM.

[HaydenP]

It's also possible that the males fly and the queens don't. Intra-colony mating is rather rare because it comes with a number of very hefty drawbacks (genetic bottlenecking and loss of genetic diversity).
The genus Pheidole is known to do both mating flights and budding off colonies though depending on the species and the environmental condiitions (some species even do both at the same time).

Ahh, thank you very much for the reply. I guess I’ll just have to play the waiting game to see if one of the queens lay eggs. They are in test tube setups now so I’ll check back in a few days.

[DaveJay]

I've read that in some species winged or non winged queens and sometimes (soon to be) gamergates gather outside the entrance to await winged males from other nests. They then either return to the nest or move away to start their own colony or a satellite nest.