Post by Wood~Ant on Mar 26, 2009 9:59:11 GMT
I recently acquired a 2nd Formica lusatica queen from a very good friend of mine. She had no brood at all, so I decided to try and see if my larger lusatica colony would adopt her, as this species is polygynous (having more than 1 queen per colony). It was a big risk, but Formica ants are known to take new queens into their nests which may not be related to themselves.
I had to try and disguise her scent a bit, so I dipped her into warm water for about 5 seconds, then dried her with kitchen paper towel. I then dusted her with a soft brush covered in icing sugar, as I hoped that the workers in my larger colony might be distracted by this
On introducing her into the nest, she was grabbed by the leg by one worker, and by her antennae by another. They were soon joined by 2 other workers who also appeared to be attacking the queen, as one brought her abdomen round as if spraying formic acid at her face.
She made no attempt at fighting back, and after 7 minutes of being pulled around by these workers, she rolled herself into a submissive pose. At this point the 4 workers immediately dragged her down into the nest entrance and she vanished from my sight.
I will have to trust to luck now that she is still alive today, as it was yesterday when she was added to my colony. There is no evidence of a dead queen, as today the colony seems to be behaving calmly and normally. I hope they haven't killed her for food, as a 2nd queen will be a nice asset to this colony and could add to the egg laying potential; and the colony already has some small larvae from the eggs which were laid only 2 weeks ago by the original queen.
So if the new queen is alive and has been accepted, then this experiment will not have been a failure; but if they have killed her, then sadly she will only end up as a meal for their larvae, which I really hope is not the case
I had to try and disguise her scent a bit, so I dipped her into warm water for about 5 seconds, then dried her with kitchen paper towel. I then dusted her with a soft brush covered in icing sugar, as I hoped that the workers in my larger colony might be distracted by this
On introducing her into the nest, she was grabbed by the leg by one worker, and by her antennae by another. They were soon joined by 2 other workers who also appeared to be attacking the queen, as one brought her abdomen round as if spraying formic acid at her face.
She made no attempt at fighting back, and after 7 minutes of being pulled around by these workers, she rolled herself into a submissive pose. At this point the 4 workers immediately dragged her down into the nest entrance and she vanished from my sight.
I will have to trust to luck now that she is still alive today, as it was yesterday when she was added to my colony. There is no evidence of a dead queen, as today the colony seems to be behaving calmly and normally. I hope they haven't killed her for food, as a 2nd queen will be a nice asset to this colony and could add to the egg laying potential; and the colony already has some small larvae from the eggs which were laid only 2 weeks ago by the original queen.
So if the new queen is alive and has been accepted, then this experiment will not have been a failure; but if they have killed her, then sadly she will only end up as a meal for their larvae, which I really hope is not the case
And if they weren't going to eat her/ accept her why would they dare bring her near their queen?
