bumblebee455
Leaf Cutter Ant
I'm from Northern Ireland
Posts: 67
Likes: 33
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Post by bumblebee455 on Aug 28, 2015 13:03:43 GMT
Hi, I recently collected a few Lasius Niger queens from a flight on a farm where I was working and on closer inspection today I realised one of the queens has a dent on the left side of her abdomen and I don't know how serious this is. She was one of the first queens to lose her wings and has settled really well in her test tube however does anyone know if this will prevent her from egg laying or if there is still a chance she might? The dent is in the third segment of her abdomen near the tip but not touching it. Many thanks
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bumblebee455
Leaf Cutter Ant
I'm from Northern Ireland
Posts: 67
Likes: 33
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Post by bumblebee455 on Aug 29, 2015 10:24:58 GMT
Well, I guess she can lay ? this morning I checked on my Niger queen to a surprise of 5 little eggs sitting in the middle of her test tube. This is considerably more than her sisters in the tubes beside her with only 1-2 eggs. I am really happy for her and may consider even writing a journal of her progress
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 29, 2015 13:07:55 GMT
Some ant species have armour plates (chitin) covering their gaster. It is not common to find them loose or damaged, but it does happen. Only if the plate rips off can it lead to injury of the soft tissue below, so a dent or slight damage does no harm at all and ants can live a perfectly normal life with such minor injuries. As this queen has laid eggs it proves she can cope and the injury is nothing to worry about, as she will probably live a long and contented life and raise lots of workers.
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bumblebee455
Leaf Cutter Ant
I'm from Northern Ireland
Posts: 67
Likes: 33
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Post by bumblebee455 on Aug 29, 2015 18:00:16 GMT
:-) Thank you, I will. That must make them really hardy for them being so small in size, that's great information to know, thank you.
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bumblebee455
Leaf Cutter Ant
I'm from Northern Ireland
Posts: 67
Likes: 33
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Post by bumblebee455 on Aug 30, 2015 10:21:47 GMT
I have an issue with 2 of my other queens, I will post it here rather than creating a new thread. When first sorting the queens into test tubes I noticed one had a small red dot under her thorax between her legs, I thought it was an injury but now I know better. Now 2 queens have this red dot however it is much larger now around the size of a larvae, so I took each queen out and with tweezers gently pulled this little thing of them.
Does this sound like a parasite, or does anyone know what this could be? Many thanks
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Post by Wood~Ant on Aug 30, 2015 11:12:59 GMT
I have an issue with 2 of my other queens, I will post it here rather than creating a new thread. When first sorting the queens into test tubes I noticed one had a small red dot under her thorax between her legs, I thought it was an injury but now I know better. Now 2 queens have this red dot however it is much larger now around the size of a larvae, so I took each queen out and with tweezers gently pulled this little thing of them. Does this sound like a parasite, or does anyone know what this could be? Many thanks Did these things have legs, as they could be ticks or mites?
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bumblebee455
Leaf Cutter Ant
I'm from Northern Ireland
Posts: 67
Likes: 33
|
Post by bumblebee455 on Aug 30, 2015 12:09:22 GMT
No unusually they didn't have any legs or even a head, they were just red ovals
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