Lasius flavus queen affiliation - part 1

The affiliation of a Lasius flavus queen by a queenless group of workers. The experiment was prepared on July 23rd, when I collected the queen during nuptial flight and on August 2nd, when I collected a bunch of workers and brood from a Lasius flavus nest in nature. The nest and the location of collection of the queen are separated by app. 15 km.

Will the queenless bunch of workers adopt the new queen? The plan for the experiment was like this:
First, introduce dead workers to the test tube with the queen. Then, add a living worker, then another, and so on. The idea: The smell of the dead workers may be enough for the queenless colony to accept the new queen. I also read, that queenless colonies of Lasis flavus affilitate new queens under some conditions, so I was optimistic for the outcome. Still I was carefully watching.

This video shows the first critical phase in the affilitation experiment: the first living worker is inserted into the test tube with the queen. Will she attack? Or accept? As you can see, she is quite nervous in the beginning - the smell doesn't seem to be too familiar to her. She runs away the first two times when she touches the queen with her antennas. After that, she gets more calm! See the next video for the continuation!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• lasius
• flavus
• queenless
• affiliation
• adoption
• workers

[elmnt1234]

Lasius Flavus are pretty passive, so I think it would work. Nice experiment anyway

[NuptialFlight]

thanks, yes, it just worked.

[gyorihuni]

Is it true that the difference is little betwen lasius niger , and lasius flavus queens? I refer to the look , is that true?

[NuptialFlight]

Yes, the queens look similar. The flavus queens are more yellowish/orangish at the bottom.

[d4v1d1999]

That's a beatiful queen ant

[mierenboy20]

how old

[wwechamp7]

i have an ant queen in my nest who is like 200 miles away from where the newly added workers have been put in and they keep attacking her

[alienfight]

oh ! ^^ so cool ! like mine !! ;)

[GnastyGnorc97]

thye will fight

[Yetili]

Lasius nigra is black Lasius flavus is yellow/orange ^^

[gyorihuni]

Why the fuck i CANT separate a lasius niger and a lasius flavus? They fucking look the fucking same! DAMIT!

[jasonthemage]

what happens if the ant workers dont adapt to there new queen? =X