Let's talk about Ants (The Animal)

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Re: Let's talk about Ants (The Animal)

Post by Alan Phipps » Wed, 3. Mar 21, 19:59

No, they have to start afresh elsewhere. The semen stored in them from mating in the swarming with many different males usually from different nests will last her the rest of her productive life which can be up to 15 years of egg-laying with no further fertilisation!

The male ants come from unfertilised eggs, while the queen determines in advance whether a fertilised egg will be a worker or a potential queen.
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Re: Let's talk about Ants (The Animal)

Post by mrbadger » Wed, 3. Mar 21, 21:30

I read a paper some time back that said most of the world is essentially owned by one colony of black ants. they spread widely and this why that particular species don't attack each other, they're all related. they can be found on almost all continents now. I don't know all the details because it's about 20 years since I read that paper.
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Re: Let's talk about Ants (The Animal)

Post by clakclak » Wed, 3. Mar 21, 21:40

mrbadger wrote:
Wed, 3. Mar 21, 21:30
I read a paper some time back that said most of the world is essentially owned by one colony of black ants. they spread widely and this why that particular species don't attack each other, they're all related. they can be found on almost all continents now. I don't know all the details because it's about 20 years since I read that paper.
The species is called Linepithema humile (I was under the assumption that they were called Idomyrmex Humilis, but that seems to be outdate), their trivial name is Argentine ant. Kurzgesagt did a nice video on them. This video by Ants Australia goes into more details.


The reason they do not attack each other outside of their native range, as explained in the Kurzgesagt video, is that due to the emigration process the genetic diversity within the invasive populations was lowered. Normally most ants attack any other ant colonies they find, even if they are the same species (though there are exceptions).
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Re: Let's talk about Ants (The Animal)

Post by mrbadger » Wed, 3. Mar 21, 23:24

There's a video now? Nice. I only ever knew about it from the paper I read, and i only read that due to my panic studying before I started my degree.
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Re: Let's talk about Ants (The Animal)

Post by clakclak » Thu, 4. Mar 21, 08:12

fiksal wrote:
Wed, 3. Mar 21, 19:34
@BaronVerde , gotcha :)
Alan Phipps wrote:
Wed, 3. Mar 21, 18:59
The winged males fly, mate (or not) and then soon die. They don't return or move on.

The flying swarms are the mating frenzy triggered by environmental conditions when the time is right. If there are winged but walking swarms then they are probably either waiting for wings to stiffen up from fluid insertion before flight, or exhausted participants that are about to either lose their wings or die. A scattered swarm could be due to weather conditions or it could more likely be to introduce genetic variation from different same species nests into the mix. (Like nests will usually swarm at the same time.) Also the new queens may scatter before landing to found their new nests.
Alright, interesting, so to bring this full circle. Is each winged female a start of a potentially new colony then? Surely no existing colony would want them, right?
While many ant species only tolerate one queen per nest, there are others in which multiple queens start a new nest and even other that accept new queens into allready existing colonies. There are also ant species without queens. Instead each ant in these species has the potential to lay eggs, but only one dominant female called the gamergate does. She stops others from laying eggs by destroying parts of their body responsible for reproduction right after birth. Some species also have a mix of Gamergates and traditional queens.
"The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn't have the weight of gender expectations." - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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