Do unfertilized ants still lay eggs?

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Batspiderfish
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Re: Do unfertilized ants still lay eggs?

Post: # 12822Post Batspiderfish
Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:50 pm

There is no difference between how egg-laying fertilized or unfertilized queens behave. The brood will be haploid (male), rather than diploid (worker/queen).
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Batspiderfish
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Re: Do unfertilized ants still lay eggs?

Post: # 12867Post Batspiderfish
Sat Oct 01, 2016 4:24 pm

Durant wrote:
merkantur wrote:
Batspiderfish wrote:There is no difference between how egg-laying fertilized or unfertilized queens behave. The brood will be haploid (male), rather than diploid (worker/queen).
So either way the queen raises the brood the same way?
Yes but unfertile queens tend to scatter their brood
I don't think this is true. The queen who scatters her brood almost always fails to raise them to maturity, so nobody has any proof that those eggs were unfertilized. A lot of the times that queens fail, it is an improper assumption that the failure was related to her mated status.
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.

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Batspiderfish
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Re: Do unfertilized ants still lay eggs?

Post: # 12887Post Batspiderfish
Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:12 pm

merkantur wrote:
Batspiderfish wrote: I don't think this is true. The queen who scatters her brood almost always fails to raise them to maturity, so nobody has any proof that those eggs were unfertilized. A lot of the times that queens fail, it is an improper assumption that the failure was related to her mated status.
So there are instances when unfertilized queens successfully raises male alates then?
Right. That's basically the only way you can prove they were unmated.
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.

JoeHostile

Re: Do unfertilized ants still lay eggs?

Post: # 13622Post JoeHostile
Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:14 pm

I have a tetromorium Sp E queen I caught on July 27. The same day and place I caught another tetromorium queen who now has about 30 workers. The one queen first laid off coloured eggs and scattered them and didn't care for them. Then she started laying white eggs and cares for them like a normal queen, but they never turn into larvae and she must eat them and lay more. If I remove the cloth covering her test tube she picks as many up as she can and tries to hide. So she's been alive for over 3 months and had eggs for the whole time. Twice I gave her a cotton ball soaked in sugar water, which she sat upon. Anyway why don't her eggs turn into male alates?

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Batspiderfish
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Re: Do unfertilized ants still lay eggs?

Post: # 13627Post Batspiderfish
Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:36 pm

If there is something wrong with her eggs, or if there is something wrong with her and she can't take care of them, this speaks nothing of her mated status.
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.

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