Confused about how Queens work.

[Cronolgical]

In one of Antscanadas latest youtube videos, he says that the eggs may be "trophic" which would mean that they turn into male ants instead of female.

He goes later into the comments to say:
"Ant genetics are different from humans. In ants (and other insects like bees and wasps) gender is determined by number of genes. If an ant egg which is haploid doesn't get fertilized with a **** which is also haploid, it will become a male ant. When an egg is fertilized and it takes on the genes of the ****, it becomes a female. Therefore, it is interesting to note than all male ants DO NOT HAVE FATHERS!"

So what I got from this is: If the queen does not mate, she will lay eggs anyway? They will just be only male ants? What... Exactly is the downside of that? What do the females do that the males cannot?

Furthermore if I were to catch a queen before she was fertilized, would she start producing eggs if given a comfortable environment? But they would all end up male?

If so, what is the downside of this type of egg production? Will she continue to produce eggs after that initial production? And what will happen if she never produces any female ants only males?

I'm not sure if this species in that video is the only one that does this, I just got into this hobby not too long ago. The only thing I know about is Camponotus herculeanus which is the ant found locally right outside my house every single day.

[Vegetable]

Interesting questions.

In the nature queens which haven't mated won't find a colony as far as I know. If you catch one she may lay eggs but probably for her own nutrition. Even the eggs would hatch into males the queen dies because the males can not forage so they all would end up dying.

Now why to produce queens and not just drones is (partly?) because of the workers. They will also want to spread own genes and this happens through their alate sisters.

Please note that I have not any personal experience and everything is read from various sources so I might be wrong.

[antscanada]

Great question, Cronolgical!! Yes, Vegetable is correct!

An unfertilized queen when put into a test tube setup will either:

1) not lay eggs and die
2) lay eggs that don't develop or lay eggs that she herself eats for nourishment or lay eggs that are rather scattered about and aren't cared for
3) lay eggs that all grow into males (winged ants), which do nothing in the ant world but wait around to mate during nuptial flight, so the queen dies due to not being cared for.

In short, an unfertilized queen (i.e. a queen that did not get the chance to mate during a nuptial flight) is useless to an ant keeper...

Unless of course you just want to care for a queen and her possible harem of useless sons.

Hope this helps! Thanks also for watching my videos.

[MadVampy]

Unless of course you just want to care for a queen and her possible harem of useless sons.

LMAO! Sounds like a Anime to me!!!!!!

[Cronolgical]

Great question, Cronolgical!! Yes, Vegetable is correct!
In short, an unfertilized queen (i.e. a queen that did not get the chance to mate during a nuptial flight) is useless to an ant keeper...

Unless of course you just want to care for a queen and her possible harem of useless sons.

Hope this helps! Thanks also for watching my videos.

Dang... I am being given a proper fertilized Queen by a friend soon but I was hoping I could have two colonies going at the same time.

Thanks for the more detailed response however.