Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

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AntsManitobacanada

Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

Post: # 23272Post AntsManitobacanada
Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:02 pm

Please help me out.
I am going to catch a queen this year and I want to know if they can have more than one queen.

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idahoantgirl
Posts: 1521
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 11:52 am
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

Post: # 23275Post idahoantgirl
Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:17 pm

AntsManitobacanada wrote:
Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:02 pm
Please help me out.
I am going to catch a queen this year and I want to know if they can have more than one queen.
So, the simple answer is no. They will decapitate each other. I tried this with tetramorium, one 2 queen colony and one 4 queen colony. over a few days, one queen had decapitated the other three in the four queen colony. The two queen colon raised their brood together for several weeks, then their test tube flooded and I, being a beginner, assumed they were dead and threw them out. (They were alive. It's strangely hard to drown ants.) So, While I'm not exactly certain that they would have fought and killed each other later, this is most likely the case. Several species will raise brood together for a while, but at some point in the founding stage, they kill each other off unless it is a polygynous species.
Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Keeping Tetramorium immigrans, Tapinoma Sessile

AntsManitobacanada

Re: Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

Post: # 23310Post AntsManitobacanada
Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:49 am

Okay thanks

Serafine

Re: Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

Post: # 23424Post Serafine
Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:38 am

Many Tetramorium species can found in pleometrosis but will, over the time of a few months, sort out all queens but the strongest. There are a few polygynous Tetramorium species from Asia though.

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Batspiderfish
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Location: Maine

Re: Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

Post: # 23427Post Batspiderfish
Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:53 am

One of the issues is that Tetramorium cf. caespitum is actually a species complex, and you have no way of knowing if two queens are the same species without genetic testing.
If you enjoy my expertise and identifications, please do not put wild populations at risk of disease by releasing pet colonies. We are responsible to give our pets the best care we can manage for the rest of their lives.

xTNxANTMANx
Posts: 416
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:03 am
Location: Western Tennessee

Re: Can tetramoriam ants have more then one queen?

Post: # 24606Post xTNxANTMANx
Fri Jul 14, 2017 11:31 am

Batspiderfish wrote:
Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:53 am
One of the issues is that Tetramorium cf. caespitum is actually a species complex, and you have no way of knowing if two queens are the same species without genetic testing.
Wow, you learn something new everyday. Didn't know that....
Keeping:
Camponotus subbarbatus
Formica pallidefulva x2
Formica subsericea x4
Lasius sp
Tetramorium immigrans x2
Dorymyrmex bureni

Founding:
Formica pallidefulva
Unknown sp x2

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