Deleted
Hibernating
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2014 22:14:57 GMT
Congratulations on having such a successful colony! Love the pictures and the videos!!
|
|
|
Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 3, 2014 14:04:37 GMT
I've probably said this before but that's the best coloured Messor queen I've ever seen. I like how she has her own attendant following her around to collect the new eggs.
|
|
shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
Posts: 1,738
Likes: 819
|
Post by shane on Sept 3, 2014 14:32:51 GMT
I've probably said this before but that's the best coloured Messor queen I've ever seen. I like how she has her own attendant following her around to collect the new eggs. Yeah she has her own bag carrier worker for the eggs I was surprised last night as worker carrying eggs was just following her up and down tube till queen settled in middle then won't move as other workers just walked over her as her bag lady worker stayed close or by her side.
And queen is fully red with darker shades of red and I wonder how I'm going to take photo's and film with nest been flat as the glass reflection can be a pain with light reflecting back will have to see.
|
|
|
Post by Driver Ant on Sept 3, 2014 16:05:08 GMT
Does such a red queen produce red workers as well?
|
|
shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
Posts: 1,738
Likes: 819
|
Post by shane on Sept 3, 2014 16:32:59 GMT
Does such a red queen produce red workers as well? It depend what male she mated with. But saying that queens workers do have a mix of colour as there darken with age till death from a light brown to a dark ruby red, Majors heads to a yellow orange to red to a ruby red to dark with a reddish body. Again colour on colony darken as there age with my messor colony
Her colony does show in having red colour on them so I think that's a yes but not as brightly red as the queen is though.
|
|
|
Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 3, 2014 16:50:28 GMT
Come to think of it, wouldn't the workers have difficulty seeing the queen and their red sisters? I read somewhere that ants are unable to see red, or are insensitive to it...although of course they usually rely on touch and smell anyway.
|
|
Deleted
Hibernating
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2014 16:54:32 GMT
The queen could have a slightly different scent so the workers can identify her. Plus, ants can see certain shades of lighter reds I believe and it is in fact the darker colours they cannot see.
|
|
shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
Posts: 1,738
Likes: 819
|
Post by shane on Sept 3, 2014 17:25:06 GMT
Come to think of it, wouldn't the workers have difficulty seeing the queen and their red sisters? I read somewhere that ants are unable to see red, or are insensitive to it...although of course they usually rely on touch and smell anyway. There use smell more or less to see, There can see light but not the way we can see it and very poor, you can say there close to blind to be honest.
The queen will have some like master smell that tells colony that shes queen, She may have a more dominant smell then rest of colony.
|
|
|
Post by Jenny on Sept 3, 2014 17:27:58 GMT
Come to think of it, wouldn't the workers have difficulty seeing the queen and their red sisters? I read somewhere that ants are unable to see red, or are insensitive to it...although of course they usually rely on touch and smell anyway. Ants that are totally blind can still tell their own mother and sisters, so the colour of the ant species doesn't matter as long as the colony scent is there for them to recognise.
|
|
Deleted
Hibernating
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2014 17:31:23 GMT
If I remember correctly from Hölldobler & Wilson, the queen has a specific caste-orientated scent as well as her colony scent. This is the way, or perhaps one of the ways, that the workers can tell the queen apart from other ants.
|
|
shane
Ant Photographer
Ant Species Image Gatherer
Posts: 1,738
Likes: 819
|
Post by shane on Sept 3, 2014 17:59:34 GMT
The queen is the heart of the colony and the colony is the brain.
But I do wonder what goes though a queens mind at times as she don't have her daughters or colony's mind at all as a worker, She does look after her larvae and spoon feed from her daughters even eat with them but that's it, She don't do any sorting out of the seeds and she don't move the larvae around, as if she did a worker would just move it back and in fact she just follows her colony like she knows she has to be in centre of it at all times and she has to be in the hot spot zone of colony.
Queen of this colony seems to have her own freedom with a worker always carrying a clutch of her eggs behind her.
|
|
|
Post by deansie on Sept 4, 2014 7:20:43 GMT
I'm seriously thinking of getting a colony lol, this thread is really great!
|
|
|
Post by Wood~Ant on Sept 4, 2014 7:50:09 GMT
I'm seriously thinking of getting a colony , this thread is really great! I would recommend this species as they have the following qualities. 1. A colony grows to be very large once established. 2. Very active and busy all the time (and that is without heating). 3. Good range of worker caste sizes. 4. Nice colour being either jet black or black with red heads, and even red queens. 5. Wicked, being very mischievous. Much naughtier than L. niger in my honest opinion, even though other members may disagree; but these girls have a wicked sense of humour.
|
|
|
Post by TenebrousNova on Sept 4, 2014 10:32:20 GMT
I'm seriously thinking of getting a colony , this thread is really great! I would recommend this species as they have the following qualities. 1. A colony grows to be very large once established. 2. Very active and busy all the time (and that is without heating). 3. Good range of worker caste sizes. 4. Nice colour being either jet black or black with red heads, and even red queens. 5. Wicked, being very mischievous. Much naughtier than L. niger in my honest opinion, even though other members may disagree; but these girls have a wicked sense of humour. Adding to this, they don't seem to be very aggressive. The only time I got bitten by my last colony was when I moved them out into a better set up, the majors were standing over their queen with jaws wide open. Otherwise, the workers didn't seem to mind me doing things with their set up (Moving things around, removing mold, etc). The workers and majors sometimes sidled out of the container but they never panicked when I put them back in. Marvelous species.
|
|
|
Post by deansie on Sept 4, 2014 11:44:28 GMT
Thanks Woodant and Timenova, I also like that they don't hibernate, anyone know where I could pick up a colony?
|
|