Crematogaster Scutellaris growth rate.

[Ant108]

Hello everyone. 3 of my 4 Crematogaster Scutellaris queens are laying eggs. I want to know what to expect for their growth. How long will they spend in test tubes? I live in Italy.

[JoeHostile1]

I’m not sure about that exact species. But new colonies can live in a test tube for at least a year. Especially small species.

[Cylvouplay]

Probably late, and probably you already have found your informations but...
These Crematogaster are very slow starting queens, because they are among the longest ants to go from egg (also called embryo) to adult (Also called imago, but I like adult more than imago). And it may get even longer if the colony (colony of one but uh...) undergoes a diapause (ant's sort of hibernation).

So the very start can be very long. But as the queen is giving birth to many many embryos (egg stage ants), once the colony has started, it grows very fast.