Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Powered by phpBB Social Network © phpBB SN Group
Deutsche Übersetzung durch phpBB.de
Time : 0.019s | 38 Queries | GZIP : On
Recently I was digging in the hot weather and bizzarely found a Lasius flavus queen. She was about an inch below the surface and had no workers with her at all. There are Lasius flavus nest(s) nearby though. She was slightly fatter then the ones in the nupital flight and I now have some fast developing brood.
Theories please? Escaped pet maybe?
Bit strange. Lasius flavus queens sometimes bunch up before hibernating to form a brood. When the workers hatch they can live as a happy family for a short amount of time until all but one queen is killed/kicked out the nest. It is possible this queen has recently been kicked out and was seeking to form her own colony.
In nature often Queens lose their workers and have to found a second time.
Maybe the queen you found was fed by her workers or you just killed the workers while digging.
There are many possibilities and none of them is for sure.
It is strange, as she is fatter then one from the nupital flight and has laid more brood, thus I think she must have been well fed, so it is unlikley all her workers died. Even if they had died she wouldn't have been that near the surface. It was dry and maybe she had been kicked out but couldn't dig as the soil was too dry. However I can't see why she would have been kicked out if she was still alive and healty, maybe she has something wrong with her which the workers picked up on and kicked her out, only time will tell if that seems to be true. PS I didn't kill the workers as they are orange and highly visiable in dark soil and I would therefore have seen any near to her.
Thanks for the theories though, anyone else got one please?