ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Skippy]

So this is worker of that? It is very nice ant spec. with nice queen too. It is look like Lasius fuliginosus with red thorax. It will be good for you acerola to have this spec in formicarium

Skippy

[JimmyVe]

I also never see this species before. They are in deed very nice. Hope it works out with your queen.

[acerola]

This queen is really fast more than 20 eggs a single day.

[Skippy]

A bit small eggs with big queen ,more interest for me.

Nicely done!

Skippy

[JimmyVe]

ww. in deed she is fast. Did she drop there wings yet ? (i hope she is fertilized, she laying eggs is not a shine she is.)

[acerola]

I removed her wings in the first day.
If it is not fertilized then we will find out how the males looks like.

[JimmyVe]

That is true. You removed her wings yourself ? How and why ?

[acerola]

The university guy recommended it. You know the colony foundation is all a process and one stage is built on the next stage. One event can trigger the next event in the process. When I collected the queen then maybe I interferenced the process somehow and thats why she did not shed her wings. So I gently pull her wings out.
He succeed the same way with this same species some years ago so thats why he recommend it to me.
Insect are sometimes just little automates we did not really understand well. But they work.

[acerola]

Did you ever think about the nuptual flights? How all the ant colonies manage to start it in the same time. I thought about it. I think it is just the same thing There can be one trigger for example there are a lot of sexual ant in the nest. And there can be another trigger a nice warm humid day after a rain. And generally it just works. But the triggers can be different from species to species.

[JimmyVe]

That is true and as long as it works it is okay. i never heard off it before but i'm not to old to learn something new.

[NuEM]

Whoever told you to tear out the wings better stop giving advice on ant keeping. Holy butcher batman!

[acerola]

Hey man I'm not talking about the limbs of the ant or its antenna. Ants did not use their wings after nuptual flight. They shed because they did not use it anymore. Queens, as you probably know, use up their wing muscles also for raising the first brood. Most of the times the workers chew off the remaining wings from the queens themselfs when they cleaning her. So I did not consider removing it much more then cutting your hair. Ant wings are designed to be temporary and easily removable. (It not as if you remove the wing of a fly, I consider that a cruelty)
And finally I did not want to remove her wing first (I wanted to wait until it drops), but her wings were very long and sticked her to the wet cotton in the test tube so she can not freed herself.
And that guy know much more about the ants than you and me added together. He study the more than 8 years now. Ant is my hobby while ant is his life. He loves ants so I did not think he want to harm any of them.

[NuEM]

If he is such an expert as you claim, why didn't he know ant queens don't have to have their wings removed to start breeding? Winged queens as successfull mothers of healthy colonies are a rare sight in nature, but they do exist and are observed occasionally. And there is quite a difference between a queen breaking off its wings itself (or workers gnawing them off for that matter), and you tearing them out! Pure luck you didn't seriously hurt the queen in the process.

[acerola]

I don't believe in the pure luck. I was very careful. I would have stopped if it does not succeed with minimal force. Ant wings tears very easily at least with this specimen.
I did not think all species work in the same way. If one queen of a given species can breed with wings on, it does not mean it works the same way with other species. I don't tell you that with this species you must remove the wings to breed, I still don't know. And I don't state that you must tear all queens wing off. But it can be a solution if things don't work out.
In the given situation I thought that it is the right thing to do. And I would do it again.

[JimmyVe]

Okay, this can be an endless discussion.
I'm never heard off it before Acerola but I'm not saying it is wrong, because I'm still learn every day about ants. I must say, i would do it myself. (If i catch a queen i only catch the ones without wings )