Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
Powered by phpBB Social Network © phpBB SN Group
Deutsche Übersetzung durch phpBB.de
Time : 0.019s | 41 Queries | GZIP : On
Hi,
It seems that the M.rubra colony was to close to the L.niger nest for comfort as L. niger will not have
move anyway ( they are the sedentary sort of ants)so the myrmicas moved away, or maybe they move to a wetter place or nearer their hunting ground. Myrmica r." consider" as their territory the area of the nest and immediate surrounding plus one or two frequently shifting hunting grounds often some distance from the nest. Away from the nest area they seems to"consider themselves on their territory where they are the most numerous , when they are much outnumbered they usually back of. When a Myrmica r. worker stray in the middle of a L.n. concentration it have all the chances to be killed however the M.r. scouts are very careful and alert and avoid been catch instead running away to give the alarm .
Some years ago I have seen two confrontations that looked like what you have observed: part of one relatively big M.r. colony occupied a howl in a pavement who was vacated when the weather became warmer and dryer. Later the nest was occupied by a advance post of a L.n. colony. When the confrontations between the Myrmcas r. and L.n. become more frequent the Myrmicas scouts became very careful recruiting nest mates until they became about 50 in number near the Lasius front post and then attack very aggressively as a group killing all the Lassius they could catch.
At an other place I observed a group of plant bugs on a one meter and a half fruit tree attended by Lasius niger then a group of 6 or 7 Myrmicas attacked killing two or three Lassius n. then in the evening the L.n.came back and the myrmicas evacuates without fighting. In the following morning the M.r.came back and the Lasius run away without fighting .This did go on for several days.
l
I have to add some precisions about what I wrote before to feed Myrmica in formicarium : Adult ants feed on
liquids because their bucal and digestive system is not made to eat solid food and the workers need to feed mostly on energy food. Adult workers wasps and primitive ants fed almost exclusively on sugar rich food .
This is also the case for dolichoderinae and formicinae like Lasius but others feed mostly on hemolimphe (arthropode blood) , on sugar derive from the processing of seeds or on nuts oil and animal grease.
When the Myrmica larvae are still small or few compare with the number of adults the food consumption of the
larvae is not enough to eat the insect meat left after the workers have finish to drink the hemolymphe and the insects leftover are left to rot in the nest. So it is useful to give some sugar or honey to Myrmicas despite the fact that it is not indispensable .
are the nesting habits of M. Ruginodis any different to M. Rubra?
Well, I think that Myrmica ruginodis nest mostly in forest in more shady places often in rotten wood, Myrmica rubra nest more in open area at least in central Europe but you can find Myrmica rubra in forest and Myrmica ruginodis in prairie so it is not an absolute rule. Colony of Myrmica ruginodis multiply mostly by independent foundation by a lone queen and have not so many queens, often one,and the colony is not so big apparently . Myrmica rubra multiply largely by separation into two daughter colony and have more queens and more workers, they seems to me to be also more mobile.
To what I wright before about hibernation of Myrmica rubra I must add this : The brood of Myrmica r. at the end of the active season mature until adults emerge except the small larvae at the first two stages of development who stop to grow until the following spring . Apparently this seems not to be entirely temperature dependent but preprogrammed .
One year in summer during a big drought all Myrmicas r. vanished from sight and one day I found by chance a colony relatively deep underground concentrate in a very small space, like in hibernation, with only the two first stage larvae present, and this during a hot and dry summer.
The temperature outside have been between 28° c and 32 °c maximum for a few days so the temperature in the house have reach 27/ 28° c but the Myrmicas rubra seems not to have suffer from the heat and had just
became more active. Now the temperature in the house is down to under 25° and the activity slow down to a normal level.
I observed myself what I have written about the competition between Lasius niger , Myrmica rubra and other ants but it seems not to be always true . In marginal places of Myrmica rubra distribution ( Not rich enough in preys , to dry,...) it seems that they formed colony's of no more than 500 workers with 1 or few queens an are so not dominant at all .
On the other hand , in some places Lasius niger attain a very high density of population due to their attending of aphids and can eliminate ants that are normally stronger and much better fighters just because of their overwhelming number and agressivity .
Hi,
It is also possible that Lasius neglectus may sometime be misidentify as Lasius niger .
We often see that ants who feed mostly on aphid exudate and don't fight between neighbouring nests can reach very high density of population with nearly unlimited number of workers, so even if these are not very good fighters they dominate by overwhelming number .