ANTSTORE World of Ants

[nortino]

Hi all. Do Pheidole pallidula milk aphids? Or would they just attack them? Also, I observed some strange behaviour, and I wondered if anyone knew what it means: basically one of my minor workers picked up another minor in its jaws and carried it right across the ant farm to where the queen is, then let it go. The ant that was being carried wasn't struggling, and when it was released it just started walking around normally again. Why would one worker carry another in this way? Thanks.

[JimmyVe]

Hi nortino, and welcome to the forum.

No Pheidole pallidula do not milk aphids. they just eat them. (mine does)

This is a normal behavior. These are ants that not come out much and other ant carry them if they are moving. Almost all species do this.

[Kale^^]

They might aswell do that for the queen. My Formica fusca is carrying the queens all the time

[JimmyVe]

If the queen is not to big. (some species the small workers are to small to carry the queen)

[SteveUK28]

Speaking of carrying queens when my Temnothorax nylanderi moved from there test tube to there nut the queen was walking on her own.. went a little of course and around 10 workers mugged her and took her to the nut.. was great to watch... Shame il never see her again lol

[ashhad1]

This strange picking up of workers happened in my Camponotus
ligniperda colony at the beginning and was quite wierd and funny as the worker being carried back to the nest always went back out.

[JimmyVe]

Queens are not carried, they are to big for the workers to carry. So they take the queens by the jaws and pull her to where they like. (new nest, better place in the nest)
Workers carrying other workers is not strange its a normal behavior. A social behavior.

[mpir]

When I moved my Themnothorax nylanderi colony to a new nest, one of the workers caried the queen on its back! I swear it's true. If I haven't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it.

[JimmyVe]

Could be, but that is in deed strange. Never heard of seen that before. But with ants everything is possible.
But we are talking about small ants. If the ants are bigger it is almost impossible for them to carry the queen.

[Sphecomyrmex]

Hi nortino,
In more ant species, carryng workers, from other workers, is enough frequent, above all when the colony is changing the nest place. When a "scout-worker" find a possible new nest place for her colony, she returns to the original nest tracing the ground with trail feromones; in the nest, she starts to recruit some other workers, and she carrys the recruits with jaws up to the individualized place; during the transport, recruit workers assume a "pupal position". Then, the recruit workers return to the original nest, and she carrys other workers to the new nest place.