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Hi. I caught a queen ant which still have wings and is flying around my test tube. Is it mated or not?

thisisangustay wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:49 am

Hi. I caught a queen ant which still have wings and is flying around my test tube. Is it mated or not?

No, mated queens' wings are paralyzed. It could also be a male. Pics would help.

thisisangustay wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:49 am

Hi. I caught a queen ant which still have wings and is flying around my test tube. Is it mated or not?

There is really no way to tell for sure right now.

Thanks. I think I should let her go as I think one day she will hit her head and suicides.

thisisangustay wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:49 am

Hi. I caught a queen ant which still have wings and is flying around my test tube. Is it mated or not?

I caught a Formica queen that was flying out of my hands. I put her in a test tube and she laid eggs that turned into larvae. Only queen I ever caught with wings that tried to fly though.

JoeHostile1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:09 pm

thisisangustay wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:49 am

Hi. I caught a queen ant which still have wings and is flying around my test tube. Is it mated or not?

I caught a Formica queen that was flying out of my hands. I put her in a test tube and she laid eggs that turned into larvae. Only queen I ever caught with wings that tried to fly though.

They might just be infertile male eggs.

AntsDakota wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:09 pm

JoeHostile1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:09 pm

thisisangustay wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:49 am

Hi. I caught a queen ant which still have wings and is flying around my test tube. Is it mated or not?

I caught a Formica queen that was flying out of my hands. I put her in a test tube and she laid eggs that turned into larvae. Only queen I ever caught with wings that tried to fly though.

They might just be infertile male eggs.

Infertile means the eggs can’t turn into larvae. But you may be right that she is not mated. Have to wait and see what the larvae turn into.

All ant eggs can turn into larvae, but unmated eggs turn into males.

AntsDakota wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 02, 2018 5:16 pm

All ant eggs can turn into larvae, but unmated eggs turn into males.

Infertile eggs can not turn into larvae hence the word infertile. Trophic eggs also don’t turn into larvae. Some species of ant that did not mate are able to produce males. Fertile queens that have mated are also able to produce males.

This post should clear up any confusion in ant keeping when it comes to terms like fertile, infertile, fertilized, unfertilized, not mated, mated, ect. Ants need to be both fertile (have the physical ability to produce offspring) and mated to produce female offspring. If ants are fertile, but not mated they will only be able to produce males. It’s important to know there is a difference between infertile and unfertilzed.

Infertile - the physical inability to produce offspring. Queens can be infertile and still have mated. They can also still lay “bad eggs” that don’t develop. Or they may not be able to lay eggs at all.

Fertile - the physical ability to produce offspring. Just because an ant is physically capable of producing offspring doesn’t mean she mated.

Mated (fertilized)- a queen that has successfully mated. This does not mean she is fertile or infertile. It simply means she has mated. Note that once a fertile queen has mated she is able to lay both fertilized eggs (female workers/female alates) and unfertilzed eggs (that turn into male alates)

Not mated (unfertilized)- a queen that did not mate. This queen could be either fertile or infertile. But if she is fertile and not mated then she will only produce male drones.

Trophic egg - An egg laid to be used specifically for food. Any queen whether fertile or infertile or mated or not mated Or any combination of those could potentially lay trophic eggs.