Messor Barbarus Queen funny behaviour

[TalANTFlame]

Apparently, after wondering around the numerous post, I stumbled upon "Funny Queen Behavior." They had the same species, and the same problem. And the person that replied to them had the same problem. They said the colony eventually died. I think you should put some more research into the topic at that piece of information.

[AntsLuxembourg]

Ok, at this point like you said, we wait. When the nest is finished, hopefully she stays in it. Good luck!

I'm really excited and affraid right now. The reason for this is something I have never seen nor heard of before. I'm talking about my queen. The thing with the queen right now is, that I just passed the outworld into which I had dropped 5+ mealworms. I made sure that the queen was nowhere near them to make sure she's not getting into any sort of trouble.

However when I came back earlier, I witnessed this. She was taking the mealworm head on with all her might and some of the workers. To me this is no normal ant queen behaviour. Normally she would be running away from a fight and also to get out of harms way. I am super surprised about it and I managed to catch everything on camera and turned it into a highlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEYFqxSz6MI

At this point I would love to contact any ant taxonomist or ant scientist to ask if they have ever witnessed something like this. I'm not talking about a queen during her founding stage that is claustral and therefor hunting for food. No I am talking about a somewhat well established colony that has let's say 1000+ workers and only one queen. Monogyn.

I was so surprised to see it that I was rooted to the spot for a bit before I adjusted the cameras and everything. My mind is still racing. Ooooof

[AntsLuxembourg]

Apparently, after wondering around the numerous post, I stumbled upon "Funny Queen Behavior." They had the same species, and the same problem. And the person that replied to them had the same problem. They said the colony eventually died. I think you should put some more research into the topic at that piece of information.

Just saw this and I do hope it will not be the case that the queen dies. It would be super sad and I would have to try and get a new queen and start a new colony. :/

[TalANTFlame]

This is becoming weirder and weirder. I definitely recommend an ant taxonomist or something, but this is just plain weird. She's acting exactly like a worker. Has she layed ANY eggs recently? And how often is she in the nest? Even if the answers don't help me, they may help the ant taxonomists.

[AntsLuxembourg]

So I stopped streaming every day also to take a break for myself since I have to start and end the stream every 12 hours. So far I haven't spotted the queen outside the nest. And I also was wondering about the egglaying but I don't know since I have a red filter over the place where the ants are nesting their brute etc.

[TalANTFlame]

Okay, seems okay then. Good luck with her an all others!

[AntsLuxembourg]

Okay, seems okay then. Good luck with her an all others!

It will only be ok if she's still alive within the next months. So far I haven't seen her dead or live body outside.

[AntsLuxembourg]

Hello again,

So far my Messor Barbarus queen has been hiding away somewhere in the nest. Which is good. However I thought I should share this with everyone as it seems interesting enough.

GP 666 from youtube wrote

Messor barbarus queens usually help to crush bigger seeds so it's not surprising that she crushes that mealworm exoskeleton.
But it's fascinating to see her leave the nest, very unusual behaviour!

It seems a bit logical and also plausible or at least possible that the queen would help with some of the bigger seeds which would explain why she was trying to carry seeds back into the nest. But it is kind of strange still that the queen went for the mealworm.

[TalANTFlame]

That seems good. The mealworm thing was a bit weird, but perhaps she's past that behavior. Perhaps.

[AntsLuxembourg]

That seems good. The mealworm thing was a bit weird, but perhaps she's past that behavior. Perhaps.

Yeah, so far there was no sight of her in the outworld. I didn't check their cork nest, but it could be that the queen is chilling in there currently. But hard to see since there are so many workers in there.