Is this a male carpenter ant?

[DontSquishTheAnt]

Ant genetics are weird. Instead of XY being male and XX being female, X is male and XX is female. This means that the only thing determining whether or not an ant is female is if it has an extra chromosome. Unfertilized eggs naturally have one less chromosome than fertilized eggs, so they come out male. Nothing is wrong with the eggs, they just don't turn out as workers. I hope that made sense.

Anyway, looks like you have 4-5 eggs and a queen with very interesting proportions. Pretty cool.

[RvBVakama]

Ant genetics are weird. Instead of XY being male and XX being female, X is male and XX is female. This means that the only thing determining whether or not an ant is female is if it has an extra chromosome. Unfertilized eggs naturally have one less chromosome than fertilized eggs, so they come out male. Nothing is wrong with the eggs, they just don't turn out as workers. I hope that made sense.

Anyway, looks like you have 4-5 eggs and a queen with very interesting proportions. Pretty cool.

Wow, that is fascinating!
Does that mean if she births males, can they mate with her and adding the missing X to then create female workers? Or does a virgin queen lack the ability to create males with the necessary genetic makeup?
I hope this queen yields workers!
Interesting proportions? Could you elaborate?

[antnest8]

So most animals have an X and a Y chromosome but some insects like ants, bees and wasps have a different system. they only have x chromosomes. females have x and x while males have an x and a 0, or no chromosome. so virgin queens eggs only have one x making them males.

[DontSquishTheAnt]

Ant genetics are weird. Instead of XY being male and XX being female, X is male and XX is female. This means that the only thing determining whether or not an ant is female is if it has an extra chromosome. Unfertilized eggs naturally have one less chromosome than fertilized eggs, so they come out male. Nothing is wrong with the eggs, they just don't turn out as workers. I hope that made sense.

Anyway, looks like you have 4-5 eggs and a queen with very interesting proportions. Pretty cool.

Wow, that is fascinating!
Does that mean if she births males, can they mate with her and adding the missing X to then create female workers? Or does a virgin queen lack the ability to create males with the necessary genetic makeup?
I hope this queen yields workers!
Interesting proportions? Could you elaborate?

Virgin queens can birth perfectly functional males, but once they miss a nuptial flight, they will never mate again.

By "interesting proportions" I mean that she looks very long and thin as compared to the Camponotus queens I have seen before. This doesn't mean that she isn't Camponotus, it just means that she is a bit more interesting to me. By the way, that could be a useful species indicator. Where did you find this queen (as in South America, eastern North America, western North America, southeast Asia, etc.)?

[antnest8]

Ant genetics are weird. Instead of XY being male and XX being female, X is male and XX is female. This means that the only thing determining whether or not an ant is female is if it has an extra chromosome. Unfertilized eggs naturally have one less chromosome than fertilized eggs, so they come out male. Nothing is wrong with the eggs, they just don't turn out as workers. I hope that made sense.

Anyway, looks like you have 4-5 eggs and a queen with very interesting proportions. Pretty cool.

Wow, that is fascinating!
Does that mean if she births males, can they mate with her and adding the missing X to then create female workers? Or does a virgin queen lack the ability to create males with the necessary genetic makeup?
I hope this queen yields workers!
Interesting proportions? Could you elaborate?

Virgin queens can birth perfectly functional males, but once they miss a nuptial flight, they will never mate again.

By "interesting proportions" I mean that she looks very long and thin as compared to the Camponotus queens I have seen before. This doesn't mean that she isn't Camponotus, it just means that she is a bit more interesting to me. By the way, that could be a useful species indicator. Where did you find this queen (as in South America, eastern North America, western North America, southeast Asia, etc.)?

I totally missed your post DontSquishTheAnt. did not see that I repeated you there, sorry.

[RvBVakama]

Ant genetics are weird. Instead of XY being male and XX being female, X is male and XX is female. This means that the only thing determining whether or not an ant is female is if it has an extra chromosome. Unfertilized eggs naturally have one less chromosome than fertilized eggs, so they come out male. Nothing is wrong with the eggs, they just don't turn out as workers. I hope that made sense.

Anyway, looks like you have 4-5 eggs and a queen with very interesting proportions. Pretty cool.

Wow, that is fascinating!
Does that mean if she births males, can they mate with her and adding the missing X to then create female workers? Or does a virgin queen lack the ability to create males with the necessary genetic makeup?
I hope this queen yields workers!
Interesting proportions? Could you elaborate?

Virgin queens can birth perfectly functional males, but once they miss a nuptial flight, they will never mate again.

By "interesting proportions" I mean that she looks very long and thin as compared to the Camponotus queens I have seen before. This doesn't mean that she isn't Camponotus, it just means that she is a bit more interesting to me. By the way, that could be a useful species indicator. Where did you find this queen (as in South America, eastern North America, western North America, southeast Asia, etc.)?

It was found in my bedroom on my denim jeans. I live in the easterns suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.